Reading The Books!
by DaughterOfApollo999
Summary: What happens when character are dragged into the past, but in another dimension? They read the books with their past selves to see how much the future changes of course! Updates once a week (normally on Sundays) and I really like reviews! So, yeah! Please read!
1. What The Fudge?

**Updates every Sunday or so; please no flames; thanks for trying!**

**Disclaimer: Me no own. Rick Riordan own**

After the war, Chiron, Reyna and Mr. D decided that the camps should join. Now, Half-Blood Hill was where the children and teens started training and quests were assigned, while New Rome was where the financial services were taken care of, and also where families could grow and develop in complete safety. The cabins had also changed. Hermes turned Hermes/Mercury, Hephaestus turned Hephaestus/Vulcan, Aphrodite turned Aphrodite/Venus, etcetera etcetera etcetera. You ate and slept with your cabins, but you trained and played war games with your cohort if you were Roman and your cabin if you were Greek. It was a system that slightly resembled that of an average summer camp. Leo and his new (mortal) girlfriend had returned, which made everybody (especially Jason, Piper and Nyssa) extremely happy, and while relations were still a little strained between Percy and Calypso, things were working out for the better. Rachel hadn't spouted anything worse than an average quest, and they had completely rebuilt everything in both camps. Life was good.

Piper was sitting in Aphrodite/Venus cabin, listening to her siblings fight over which was better, lip gloss or lipstick. She was trying to listen to music on a new device leo and the Hephaestus Cabin had built, when suddenly she couldn't take it anymore. "It depends on what you're wearing" she spoke, impatient. Everyone stopped. " She's totally right! " Lacy exclaimed. Then, everybody froze. Piper raised an eyebrow. Aphrodite strolled in. "Great choice dear! It really does depend on what you're wearing! You can be very fashion forward when you want to be." "Thank you. Wait, what?!" Her mom laughed. "Follow the arch, darling, and don't worry, you'll be back before you notice." She skipped out, giggling. Piper blinked, and an arch appeared before her. _Oh, what the heck. _She hesitantly walked through it.

She awoke in a massive room. She looked around. Standing in front of her, were the twelve major gods of olympus.

She stared.

They stared.

She stared.

They stared.

She stared.

They stared.

She star- She actually looked to her left. There, were Percy, Annabeth, and the rest of Camp Half-Blood.

She stared.

They stared.

She stared.

They stared.

She stared.

They stared.

She star- She actually looked back to her front. Standing there was everyone.

She stared.

They stared.

She stared.

They stared.

She stared.

They stared.

She star- Suddenly, a blinding light filled the room. Out of the light, stepped Hecate and Athena. "Hello heroes." Athena spoke. "We are from the future. We sent this ambassador-" She gesture at Piper and she waved. "-to read you five books. The Titan War has just ended, correct?" They nodded. "These books record the next war."

Annabeth raised her hand. "If these are books from the future, wouldn't reading them cause a space time continuum or something?"

Hecate answered that. "This is a separate dimension. Knowing about this will change your future, but that doesn't exist yet, so it's okay." Annabeth nodded, smiling slightly.

The goddesses vanished, and in their place appeared five hard-cover books. Piper stood up. "I guess I should start with introductions. My name is Piper McLean. I'm the daughter of- You know what? You'll find out soon enough."

Percy stepped forward. "What happens in the future? Am I important? Is Annabeth important? Does anyone die?" He sounds worried.

"Woah, whoa! Calm down! We're reading the books so shut up. Who's reading the books?" She looked around the room.

"I will." Athena said. Everybody looked at her, surprised. "What? I'm curious." Everyone shrugged and she picked up the one on top. "**The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan. Book one of the Heroes of Olympus Series."**


	2. We Start (Yay! Boo! Yay! Boo!)

JASON

Zeus blinked. Did that mean Jason Grace? No, he's a Roman, not a Greek.

**Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day.**

**He woke in the backseat of a school bus, holding hands with a girl he didn't know. That wasn't necessarily the rotten part.**

"That depends on whether or not the girl was cute." Travis said.

Connor laughed. "You got that right!"

**The girl was cute, but he couldn't figure out who she was or what he was doing there.**

"See! He agrees with us!" The Stolls grinned, ecstatic. Katie scowled.

**He sat up and rubbed his eyes trying to think.**

**A few dozen kids sprawled in the seats in front of him, listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. They all looked around his age… fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. He didn't know his own age.**

Apollo whistled. "What happened to him?" Piper just winked at him.

**The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Jason was pretty sure he didn't live in the desert. He tried to think back… the last thing he remembered…**

The gods exchanged concerned glances.

**The girl squeezed his hand. "Jason, you okay?"**

**She wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no makeup, like she was trying not to draw attention to herself, but it didn't work. She was seriously pretty.**

Everyone looked at Piper. She blushed, and Aphrodite squealed. "OMGOMGOMGOMG! Jiper is so cute!"

"Jiper?" Percy asked.

"Jason and Piper!" Lacy and Aphrodite shrieked. Everyone who wasn't in the Aphrodite cabin flinched.

**Her eyes seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope-brown, blue, and green.**

**Jason let go of her hand. "Um, I don't-"**

**In the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"**

"Cupcakes?" Will asked.

Piper just smiled.

**The guy was obviously a coach. His baseball cap was pulled low over his hair, so you could just see his beady eyes. He had a wispy goatee and a sour face, like he'd eaten something moldy. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon workout pants and Nikes were spotless white.**

"He needs a makeover." Aphrodite commented, and Artemis sighed, exasperated.

**A whistle hung from his neck, and a megaphone was clipped to his belt. He would've been pretty scary if he wasn't five foot zero. When he stood up in the aisle, one of the students called, "Stand up Coach Hedge!"**

Hermes, the Stolls, Percy, Will and Apollo laughed.

**"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus for the offender. Then his eyes fixed on Jason, and his scowl deepened.**

"He knows." Athena asked, realizing who Coach was. Piper winked at her, and Athena smiled.

**A jolt went down Jason's spine. He was sure the coach knew he didn't belong there.**

"Told you" Guess who?

**He was going to call out Jason, demand to know what he was doing on the bus - and Jason wouldn't have a clue on what to say.**

**But Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious cupcakes cause any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way."**

"The hard way?" Dionysus asked. Everyone looked at him. They hadn't realized he was listening,

**He picked up a baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer.**

Ares laughed. "I like this dude!"

**Jason looked at the girl next to him. "Can he talk to us that way?"**

**She shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where the kids are animals.'" She said it like it was some joke they'd shared before.**

Piper frowned. It was. Aphrodite looked up from her mirror, feeling a wave of hurt. She looked at Piper, and frowned. Piper was good at hiding her emotions. Aphrodite scrunched her eyes. What was their relationship?

Her musings were interrupted when a voice punctured her mind. "Something wrong?"

She looked at Ares, thinking he was the most likely to care, but was surprised to find it was actually Hephaestus, who was looking at her with caring glance. Ares hadn't even looked up from his stupid daggers. "No, everything's fine." Maybe Ares doesn't care.

**"This is some kind of mistake," Jason said. "I'm not supposed to be here."**

**The boy in front of him turned and laughed. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."**

Hermes and his cabin gasped. Then they bombarded Piper with questions. "Why did you steal it? Where did you steal it from? What type of car was it? Are you are sister?"

She laughed. "You'll find out, don't remember, don't remember, no."

"Dang it."

**The girl blushed. "I didn't steal that car Leo!"**

**"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you?" He raised his eyebrows at Jason like, Can you believe her?**

Drew raised her eyebrow. That sounded like… it couldn't be! She looked at Aphrodite. Aphrodite promptly looked away.

**Leo looked like a Latino Santa's elf,**

Piper burst out laughing. Everyone looked at her. She fell on the ground. After she calmed down, she apologized. "I don't think Leo would like that description very much."

**with curly black hair, pointy, ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy was not to be trusted around matches or sharp objects.**

"He doesn't need matches." Piper spoke again.

Everyone looked at her. "What do you mean."

"Hephaestus knows what I mean."

Hephaestus looked at her. "Valdez?"

"Yep."

"Well, we're all gonna die."

"I know! That's what I said!"

**His long nimble fingers wouldn't stop moving-drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his eyes, fiddling with the buttons on my army jacket. Either this kid was naturally hyper or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.**

"Really Jason?" Piper smirked. "Really?

**"Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine for spit wads days ago.**

Artemis and her hunters sighed. "Boys."

**Why are you looking at me like that? Did somebody draw on my face again?"**

"Again?" Athena asked.

Piper laughed. "Again."

**"I don't know you." Jason said.**

**Leo gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."**

**"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "Problem back there!"**

**Leo winked at Jason. "Watch this." He turned to the front. "Sorry Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"**

"Oh gods." Hephaestus said. "If he's anything like his mother, this isn't going to go over well." Piper burst out laughing again.

**Coach grunted like he was glad to have an excuse. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kid's cracked up. The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"**

"Yep." Hephaestus sighed. "He's like his mother." The Hermes cabin laughed.

**The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"**

**Piper stifled a laugh. "My god, Leo. How did you do that?"**

"Gods" Apollo corrected.

**Leo slipped a tiny Phillips head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy."**

"You can say that again." Piper's good mood vanished and she sighed. The rest of the room looked at her. What happens in the future?

**"Guys seriously," Jason pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"**

**Piper knit her eyebrows. "Jason, are you joking"**

**"No! I have no idea-"**

**"Aw, yeah, he's joking," Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren't you?"**

The Stolls gasped. Katie sighed. "I'm never eating Jell-O again."

**Jason stared at him blankly.**

**"No, I think he's serious." Piper tried to take his hand again, but he pulled away.**

**"I'm sorry," He said. "I don't-I can't-"**

**"That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back row has just volunteered to clean up for lunch!"**

**The rest of the kids cheered.**

"Traitors." Piper smiled, lost in old memories.

**"There's a shocker," Leo muttered.**

**But Piper kept her eyes on Jason, like she couldn't decide whether to be hurt or worried.**

"Both"

**"Did you hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?"**

**Jason shrugged helplessly. "It's worse than that. I don't know who I am."**

Hestia gasped. Only a few gods could do that...

**The bus dropped them in front of a bid red stucco complex like a museum, just sitting in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that's what it was: the National Museum of Nowhere, Jason thought.**

"Seriously Jason?" Annabeth and Piper said at the same time.

**A cold wind blew across the desert. Jason hadn't paid much attention to what he was wearing, but it wasn't nearly warm enough: jeans and sneakers, a purple t-shirt, and a thin black windbreaker.**

The gods exchanged anxious-no, terrified-glances. The purple shirt is just a coincidence!

**"So, a crash course for the amnesiac," Leo said, in a helpful tone that made Jason think this was not going to be helpful.**

"It probably isn't"

**"We go to the 'Wilderness School'"-Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're 'bad kids.' Your family, or the court, or whoever, decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison-sorry, 'boarding school'-in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you now?"**

Everyone burst out laughing.

**"No." Jason glanced apprehensively at the other kids: maybe twenty guys, half that many girls. None of them looked like hardened criminals, but he wondered what they'd all done to get sentenced to a school for delinquents, and he wondered why he belonged with them.**

"You never told us." Piper said sadly. Everyone was struck by confusion once again.

**Leo rolled his eyes. "You're really going to play this out, huh? Okay, so the three of us started here together this semester. We're totally tight. You do everything I say and give me your dessert and do my chores-"**

"Leo!" Piper snapped.

**"Leo!" Piper snapped.**

She then blushed.

**"Fine. Ignore that last part, But we are friends. Well, Piper's a little more than your friend, the last few weeks-"**

Piper blushed and Aphrodite shrieked, "Jiper, Jiper, Jiper, Jiper!"

**"Leo, stop it!" Piper's face turned red. Jason could feel his face burning too. He thought he'd remember if he'd been going out with a girl like Piper.**

**"He's got amnesia or something," Piper said. "We've got to tell somebody."**

**Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach hedge? He'd try to fix Jason by whacking him upside the head."**

Dionysus nodded. "I like his teaching style."

**The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line; but every so often he'd glance back at Jason and scowl.**

**"Leo, Jason needs help," Piper insisted. "He's got a concussion or-"**

**"Yo, Piper." One of the other guys dropped back to join them as the group was heading into the museum. The new guy wedged himself between Piper and Jason and knocked Leo down.**

Hestia gritted her teeth. It may not seem like it, but she can be violent if someone is being a massively rude jerkface.

**"Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?"**

"Bottom-feeders!" Everyone jumped. They had forgotten about Hestia.

**The new guy had dark hair cut superman style, s deep tan, and teeth so white they should've come with a warning label: do not stare directly at teeth. Permanent blindness may occur.**

"Seriously Jason?" Piper laughed.

**He wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans and boots, and he smiled like he was God's gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. Jason hated him instantly.**

"Jealousy!" Aphrodite was acting like she was just given a bajillion dollars worth of free clothes and shoes.

**"Go away, Dylan," Piper grumbled. "I didn't ask to work with you."**

**"Ah, that's no way to be. This is your lucky day!" Dylan hooked his arm through hers and dragged her through the museum entrance. Piper shot one last look over her shoulder like, 911.**

"I was like 911." Piper murmured. "He was a creep."

**Leo got up and brushed himself off. "I hate that guy." He offered Jason his arm, like they should go skipping inside together. "I'm Dylan. I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but i can't figure out how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!"**

"Leo," Percy said, "you're weird."

**"Leo," Jason said, "you're weird."**

Annabeth, Piper and Grover laughed at Percy's look of horror.

**"Yeah, you tell me that a lot." Leo grinned. "But if you don't remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes. Come on!"**

"Seriously?" Artemis asked.

**Jason figured that if this was his best friend, his life must be pretty messed up,**

"You got one thing right." Piper murmured.

**but he followed Leo into the museum.**

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a flash of light.

Out of the light tumbled an elf. No, not an elf, more of a boy with elvish features. He was wearing suspenders and a tool belt, and had smudges of oil and grease all over his face, hands, and clothed. He spun around turning to face the gods. "Oh, what the Hades do you want now!?"

Zeus looked furious. "Who dares-"

He was cut off by Leo. "I am busy right now! Can't you wait another day or two! But no! The all-powerful gods of olympus need help! Everyone drop everything!" He glared at the gods. Then he smiled. "Kidding! What does Zeusie-poo need Flaming Valdez for today!"

They stared at him. Piper cleared her throat. "Um.. Leo? We're in another time period. They didn't bring you here."

"Oh!" He smiled. "What are we doing then?"

Apollo stepped in. "One, you are here to read the Heroes of Olympus series, a chronicle of your adventures. Two, what were you doing? And three, did you just call the King of the Gods Zeusie-poo?"

Leo smiled. "Yes, yes I did." He turned to Athena. "Please continue." She looked at him, realizing he never answered Apollo's first question, but continued anyway.

**They walked through the building, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture them with his microphone, which alternately made him sound like a Sith Lord or blared out random comments like "The pig says oink."**

Leo grinned maniacally. "So we're at this part!"

**Leo kept pulling out nuts, bolts and pipe cleaners from the pockets of him army jacket and putting them together, like he had to keep his hands busy at all times.**

Hestia looked at him. He was taking little things out of the pockets of his tool belt, creating a stopwatch, a mini car, a rubber band ball, never keeping still.

**Jason was too distracted to pay much attention to the exhibits, but they were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe which owned the museum.**

**Some girls kept looking over at Piper and Dylan and snickering. Jason figured these girls were the popular clique. They wore matching jeans and pink tops and enough makeup for a halloween party.**

Lacy frowned. "Jeans; okay. Pink tops; were they cute? Makeup; to much is a massive disaster." The Aphrodite cabin (minus Piper) nodded, and Aphrodite beamed proudly at her.

**One of them said, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in for free if you do a rain dance?"**

Hestia's eyes narrowed.

**The other girls laughed. Even Piper's so called partner Dylan suppressed a smile. Piper's snowboarding jacket hid her hands, but Jason got the feeling she was clenching her fists.**

**"My dad's Cherokee," she said. "Hot Hualapai. "Course you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel."**

Ares smiled. "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

**Isabel widened her eyes in mock surprise, so that she looked like an owl with a makeup addiction.**

Athena scowled. Don't offend owls!

**"Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom."**

Ares smiled, but Aphrodite, Piper, Leo, and Percy had to take a calming breath.

**Piper charged, but before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"**

Ares frowned. "Dang it! When is this going to get interesting?"

Piper and Leo laughed, then answered the question. "In the next chapter!"

Then Leo frowned. "You also get to read about how much I suck at fighting."

**The group shuffled to the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out little comments to Piper.**

**"Good to be back on the rez?" One asked in a sweet voice.**

**"Dad's probably to drunk to work," another one said with fake sympathy. "That's why she turned klepto."**

Aphrodite looked ready to burst. Everyone looked at her. Why was she so protective of Piper? She barely even knew her!

**Piper ignored them, but Jason was ready to punch them himself. He might not remember Piper, or who he even was, but he knew he hated mean kids.**

The futures (Leo and Piper) laughed. "You can say that again!"

**Leo caught his arm. "Be cool. Piper doesn't like us fighting her battles. Besides, if these girls found out the truth about her dad, they'd all be bowing down to her and screaming, 'We're not worthy!'"**

"Why? What about her dad?" Clarisse asked. Everyone jumped. Only a couple of the past campers had said much.

**"Why? What about her dad?"**

Clarisse blushed. Everybody else laughed. Leo spoke. "That's when I knew he wasn't kidding."

**Leo laughed in disbelief. "You're not kidding? You really don't remember that your girlfriend's dad-"**

**"Look, I wish I did, but I don't even remember her, much less her dad."**  
><strong> Leo whistled. "Whatever. We have to talk when we get back to the dorm."<strong>

"Who's her dad?" Almost everyone screamed.

**They reached the end of the exhibit hall, where some big glass doors led out to a terrace.**

**"Alright, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it."**

"Try not to break it? Really?" Annabeth asked, exasperated.

**"The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge,**

"Least he sort of cares." Poseidon said.

**as that would call me extra paperwork."**

"Nevermind"

**The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside. The Grand Canyon spread out before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.**

**"Man," Leo said. "That's pretty wicked."**

**Jason had to agree. Despite his amnesia and his feeling that he didn't belong there, he couldn't help being impressed.**

**The canyon was bigger and wider then you could appreciate from a picture. They were so high that birds circled below their feet. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked along the canyon floor.**

Thalia shivered

**Banks of storm clouds had moved overhead while they'd been inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. As far as Jason could see in any direction, red and grey ravines cut through the desert like some crazy god had taken a knife to it.**

**Jason got a piercing pain behind his eyes. Crazy gods…**

Everyone gasped. "Annabeth!" Percy shouted. "Is there anyone named Jason at Camp Half-Blood!"

"Not at Camp Half-Blood…" Leo murmured, quietly enough that only the gods could hear it. They paled noticeably.

"No! There isn't"

Thalia gasped Jason… Gods… Amnesia…!

**Where had he come up with that idea? He felt like he'd come across something important-something he should know about.**

The gods glared at Hera. She smiled nervously.

**He also got the unmistakable feeling he was in danger.**

Zeus bit his lip. No matter how much he hid it, he still cared about both Thalia and Jason more than he would admit.

**"You alright?" Leo asked. "You're not going to throw up over the side, are you? 'Cause I should've brought my camera."**

Thalia looked at him. "Really?"

Artemis sighed. "Boys…"

**Jason grabbed the railings. He was shivering and sweaty, but it had nothing to do with heights. He blinked, and the pain behind his eyes subsided.**

**"I'm fine." He managed. "Just a headache."**

**Thunder rumbled overhead. A cold wind almost knocked him sideways.**

**"This can't be safe." Leo squinted at the clouds. "Storm's right above us, but it's clear all the way around. Weird, huh?"**

"Weird!?" Athena burst, "That's all you can say!?"

**Jason looked up and saw Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear. Jason had a bad feeling about that.**

Everyone who didn't know Zeus was Jason's father glared at him.

**"Alright, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. H frowned at the storm like it bothered him too.**

Dionysus yawned. "He's the satyr."

**"We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!"**

**The storm rumbled, and Jason's head started to hurt again. Not knowing why he did it, he reached into his jeans pocket and brought out a coin-a circle of gold the size of a half dollar, but thicker and more uneven.**

"His weapon?" Percy asked. "In mortal form, like riptide?"

"Yep." Piper and Leo said, popping the p.

Connor and Travis gasped quietly. "Spoilersss…"

**Stamped on one side was a picture of a battle-ax. On the other was some guy's face wreathed in laurels. The inscription said something like ivlivs.**

"That means Julius in Latin." Annabeth said. "Why does Jason have have a Latin coin that says Julius?"

**"Dang, is that gold?" Leo asked. "You've been holding out on me!"**

**Jason put the coin away, wondering how he'd come to have it, and why he had the feeling he was going to need it soon.**

Everyone looked at the futures. Leo winked and grinned widely, while Piper just smiled slightly.

**"It's nothing," he said. "Just a coin."**

**Leo shrugged. Maybe his mind needed to keep moving as much as his hands. "Come on," he said. "Dare you to spit over the edge."**

"Boys." Artemis and the hunters.

**They didn't try very hard on the worksheet. For one thing, Jason was too distracted on the storm and his own mixed up feelings. For another thing, he didn't have any idea how to "name three sedimentary strata you observe" or "describe two examples of erosion."**

Athena opened her mouth, but Poseidon spoke first. "Keep reading!"

She snorted, but kept reading, thank gods.

**Leo was no help. He was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.**

**"Check it out." He launched the copter.**

Travis snapped his finger. "He's a son of Hephaestus!"

Katie sighed and shook her head. "Gods, you're slow."

**Jason figured it would plummet, but the pipe cleaner blade actually spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.**

**"How'd you do that?" Jason asked.**

**Leo shrugged. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands."**

"Didn't have my toolbelt." Leo stroked said toolbelt affectionately.

The gods gasped. "That's the belt from the Bunker!" Hephaestus exclaimed.

"Yep."

"You found it?! That means… Hephaestus!" Zeus yelled at him.

"The Fates told me too!" The campers exclaimed confused glances. What in Hades are they all freaking out about?

"You're right. We are all gonna die."

"Shut up, Apollo."

"Why don't you, Artemis?"

"Only if you do first."

"You first!"

"No, you first."

"No, you first"

"No, you."

"No, you."

"No, you."

Shut up!" Hades exclaimed. The campers were all on the floor laughing. Athena sighed (there's a lot of exasperated sighing, isn't there?!) and went back to the book.

**"Seriously," Jason said, "are we friends?"**

**"Last I checked."**

**"You sure? What was the first day we met? What did we talk about?"**

**"It was…" Leo frowned. "I don't recall exactly. I'm ADHD, man. You can't expect me to remember details."**

"Actually, Leo," Annabeth explained. "Demigod ADHD is we absorb to much info, not too little."

"I know that now. Back then I was just some kid with mental problems."

"You do have mental problems."

"Well, duh!"

**"But I don't remember you at all. I don't remember anyone here. What if-"**

**"You're right and everyone else is wrong?" Leo asked. "You think you just appeared here this morning and we've all got fake memories of you?"**

Everyone looked at him. "How did you know?" Athena asked flabbergasted.

Leo smiled, a little uncomfortable. "Lucky guess? Wild imagination? I don't really know."

**A little voice in Jason's head said, That's exactly what I think.**

**But it sounded crazy. Everyone here took him for granted. Everyone acted like he was a normal part of the class-except for Coach Hedge.**

"He gets it now." Hestia said. Once again, everyone jumped, having forgotten she was there.

**"Take the worksheet." Jason handed Leo the paper. "I'll be right back."**

**Before he could protest, Jason headed across the skywalk.**

**Their school group had the place to themselves.**

That's never a good thing. Everyone thought it, but nobody voiced it.

**Maybe it was too early in the day for tourists, or maybe the weird weather had scared them off. The Wilderness School kids had spread out in pairs across the skywalk. Most were joking around or talking. Some of the guys were throwing pennies over the side. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out her worksheet, but her stupid partner Dylan was hitting on her, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her that blinding white smile.**

Aphrodite growled. Why is she acting so protective?

**She kept pushing him away, and when she saw Jason she gave him a look like, Throttle this guy for me.**

**Jason motioned for her to hand on. He walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.**

**"Did you do this?" the coach asked him.**

**Jason took a step back. "Do what?" It sounded like the coach had just asked if he'd made the thunderstorm.**

Annabeth saw the threads of a connection. "Mom... What's going on?"

Athena looked at her. "Shh…"

**Coach Hedge glared at him, his beady little eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"**

**"You mean… you don't know me?" Jason said. "I'm not one of your students?"**

**Hedge snorted. "Never seen you before today."**

"So, Leo was right!"

"We already established that, Seaweed Brain."

**Jason was so relieved he almost wanted to cry.**

"Wimp." Ares smirked.

Piper smirked at him. "Go try and kiss Artemis." Ares suddenly went over to Artemis. Ten minutes later, the campers were confused, Apollo and Artemis were looking smug, Aphrodite was jealous, Ares was in the godly infirmary, and Leo and Piper were laughing their heads off.

**At least he wasn't going insane. He was in the wrong place. "Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is I'm not supposed to be here."**

**"Got that right." Hedge's gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was sharing a secret. "You've got a powerful way with the mist, kid, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monsters for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like a half-blood. So-who are you, and where'd you come from?"**

Leo murmured something but no one could hear it. "What was that?" Thalia asked him.

He jumped, not realizing anyone had heard him. He smiled nervously. "Nothing."

**Most of what the coach said didn't make any sense, but Jason decided to answer the question honestly. "I don't know who I am. I don't have any memories. You've got to help me."**

**Coach Hedge studied his face like he was trying to read Jason's thoughts.**

"He was." Grover murmured quietly.

**"Great," Hedge muttered. "You're being truthful."**

**"Of course I am! And what was that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those like code words or something?"**

Percy laughed. "Code words."

**Hedge narrowed his eyes. Part of Jason wondered if this guy was just nuts. But the other part knew better.**

**"Look, kid," Hedge said, "I don't know who you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect three of you rather than two. Are you the special package? Is that it?"**

"What special package?" Katie asked.

**"What are you talking about?"**

**Hedge look at the storm. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk.**

**"This morning," Hedge said, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team was on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me the details. I thought to myself, fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful, older than most.**

"You two?" Percy asked Leo and Piper.

"No, Percy. Dylan and Isabel." Piper said, her voice layered with sarcasm.

"Oh!" Percy looked thoughtful. "Then how come you two are here?"

Everyone groaned. Annabeth facepalmed. "Seaweed Brain, that was sarcasm."

"Oh… Oops."

**I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"**

**The pain behind Jason's eyes got worse then ever. Half-bloods. Camp. Monsters.**

The campers were thinking. Not Camp Half-Blood, but knows about demigods? Maybe a newbie went missing? But why go through the trouble a memory wiping if he wasn't powerful, but the powerful ones were already at camp… What was going on?

**He still didn't know what Hedge was talking about, but the words gave him a massive brain freeze-like his mind was trying to access information that should've been there but wasn't.**

**He stumbled, and Coach Hedge caught him. For a short gut, the coach had hands like steel. "Whoa, there, cupcake. You say you got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."**

**"What director?" Jason said. "What camp?"**

**"Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before-"**

**Lightning crackled overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.**

You could cut the tension with a knife.

**"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He bellowed into his microphone: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"**

**"I thought you said this thing was stable!" Jason shouted over the wind.**

**"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't. Come on!"**

Athena blinked. "That's the end of the chapter. Who's reading next?"

Apollo looked up. "I will!"


	3. Piper falls off a big cliff

**Disclaimer****: Not mine. It's all Rick****Riordan's.**

Apollo took the book from Athena. He flipped to the right page, cleared his throat, and started reading.

**Jason**

**The storm churned like a miniature hurricane. Funnel clouds snaked toward the skywalk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish.**

Everyone shivered. Who could blame them? That sounded creepy.

**Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hates, and backpacks. Jason skidded across the slick floor.**

**Leo lost his balance and almost toppled over the railing, but Jason grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.**

"Thank gods." Piper murmured.

Leo heard her. "You'd miss me, Beauty Queen?"

"Of course! Who else could make me tofu tacos?"

**"Thanks, man!" Leo yelled.**

**"Go, go, go!" said Coach Hedge.**

**Piper and Dylan were holding the doors open, herding the other kids inside. Piper's snowboarding jacket was flipping wildly, her dark hair all in her face. Jason thought she must've been freezing, but she looked clam and confident - telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keep moving.**

**Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge ran toward them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, pushing them back.**

**Dylan and Piper pushed one more kid inside, then lost their grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the skywalk.**

"No!" screamed Aphrodite, Zeus, and Hephaestus, but they were too wrapped up in the suspense to catch the strange looks they received.

**Piper tugged at the handles. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.**

Everyone was silent.

**"Dylan, help!" Piper shouted.**

**Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin, his Cowboys jersey rippling in the wind, like he was suddenly enjoying the storm.**

**"Sorry, Piper," he said. "I'm done helping."**

"He's the monster!" Annabeth yelled.

**He flicked his wrist, and Piper flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding into the skywalk deck.**

"What kind of monster is it?" Percy asked Annabeth.

She frowned "I don't know…"

**"Piper!" Jason tried to charge forward, but the wind was against him, and Coach Hedge pushed him back.**

**"Coach," Jason said, "let me go!"**

**"Jason, Leo, stay behind me," the coach ordered. "This is my fight. I should've known that was our monster."**

**"What?" Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away. "What monster?"**

"Oh Leo…. You were so oblivious." Piper smiled at him.

He acted offended. "I'm hurt Beauty Queen. I'm truly hurt."

**The coach's cap blew off, and sticking up above his curly hair were two bumps - like the knots cartoon character get when they're bonked on the head. Coach Hedge lifted his baseball bat - but it wasn't a regular bat anymore. Somehow it had changed into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.**

"Was it that the mist didn't affect him anymore?" Annabeth asked.

"No, I think it was a true transformation." Piper said to her.

**Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let the boy attack me! After all, you're getting too old for this."**

**"Isn't that why they retired you to this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, and you didn't even know. You're losing your nose, grandpa."**

Piper and Leo jumped up. "Coach is better then you!"

"Shut up, Dylan!"

"You're just a stupid monster?"

"What do you know!" All the gods and campers were happy that the futures were close to Coach Hedge.

**The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. "That's it cupcake. You're going down."**

**"You think you can protect three half-bloods at once, old man?" Dylan laughed. "Good luck."**

**Dylan pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud materialized around him. Leo flew off the skywalk like he'd been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed sideways into the canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold. Finally he grabbed a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk and hung there by his fingertips.**

Hephaestus gasped. "Leo!"

Leo smiled. "I'm right here, dad."

"Thank us."

**"Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"**

**Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Jason his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. Keep that **_**thing **_**;busy" - he stabbed a thumb at Dylan - "while I get Leo."**

"Really, Hedge?" Will spoke up. "Give the inexperienced amnesiac a baseball bat and send him off to fight a monster? Really?"

Piper thought for a moment. "Well, he was trying to save Leo."

"And that is totally worth it." Leo added.

**"Get him how?" Jason demanded. "You going to fly?"**

**"Not fly. Climb."**

**Hedge kicked off his shoes, and Jason almost had a coronary.**

**The coach didn't have any feet. He had hooves - goat's hooves. Which meant those things on his head, Jason realized, weren't bumps. They were horns.**

**"You're a faun," Jason said.**

"A faun?" Percy was confused.

"Roman term for satyr." Annabeth helped him out.

"Latin coin, crazy gods, amnesia, appearing out of nowhere, calling a satyr a faun…" Percy frowned. "What is going on here?"

**"**_**Satyr**_**!" Hedge snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later."**

**Hedge leaped over the railing. He sailed toward the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way toward Leo.**

**"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward Jason. "Now it's your turn, boy."**

**Jason threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked him on the head so hard he fell to his knees.**

"Awesome!" The Stolls shouted. _How did he do that?_ Annabeth wondered.

**Piper wasn't as dazed as she appeared. Her fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to her, but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Blood - golden blood - trickled from his forehead.**

**"Nice try, boy." He glared at Jason. "But you'll have to do better."**

**The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass. Inside the museum, kids stopped banging on the doors. They back away, watching in terror.**

"I wonder what they saw." Percy said.

"I wonder that a lot." Leo said.

**Dylan's body dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules were coming unglued. He had the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form was suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouted black smoky wings and rose above the skywalk. If angels could be evil, Jason decided, they would look exactly like this.**

"Evil angels? Really? Jason, Jason, Jason…" Piper murmured, and Aphrodite squealed.

**"You're a ventus," Jason said, though he had no idea how he knew that word. "A storm spirit."**

Annabeth snapped her fingers. "Anemoi thuellan! Of course! Ventus is anemoi thuellan in latin!'

"More latin?" Percy sighed. "My brain hurts."

**Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I waited, demigod. Leo and Piper I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said a third was coming - someone special. She'll reward me greatly for your death!"**

Athena, Annabeth, and the Athena cabin frowned. "Mistress?" Percy asked.

The futures grimaced. "You don't want to know." Leo shivered. "I really hate her."

**Two more funnel clouds touched down on either side of Dylan and turned into venti - ghostly young men with smoky wings and eyes that flickered with lightning.**

**Piper stayed down, pretending to be dazed, her hand still gripping the club. Her face was pale, but she gave Jason a determined look, and he understood the message: **_**Keep their attention. I'll brain them from behind.**_

**Cute, smart, **_**and **_**violent. Jason wished he remembered having her as a girlfriend.**

Piper blushed bright red, and Aphrodite almost fainted. "So much Jasper… I can't take it anymore!" She promptly fainted.

Piper turned to Apollo. "Please continue reading."

Apollo frowned. "But what about-"

"Continue." He continued reading.

**He clenched his fists and got ready to charge, but he never got a chance.**

**Dylan raised his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasted Jason in the chest.**

The gods all sighed in relief, while the campers just gasped, wondering how he managed to survive an electric lightning shock.

_**Bang**_**!**

**Jason found himself flat on his back. His mouth tasted like burning aluminum foil.**

**He lifted his head and saw that his clothes were smoking. The lightning bolt had gone straight through his body and blasted off his left shoe. His toes were black with storm spirits were laughing. The winds raged. Piper was screaming defiantly, but it all sounded tinny and far away.**

**Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Coach Hedge climbing the cliff with Leo on his back. Piper was on her feet, desperately swinging the club to fend off the two extra storm spirits, but they were just toying with her. The club went right through their bodies like they weren't there. And Dylan, a dark and winged tornado with eyes, loomed over Jason.**

**"Stop," Jason croaked. He rose unsteadily to his feet, and he wasn't sure who was more surprised: him, or the storm spirits.**

Everyone was wound with suspense, and even the futures were too caught up in the story to notice a small portal appear, and a certain blonde haired teen with a scar on his lip and electric blue eyes step out, before he sat down next to Hestia by the hearth. She looked at him and smiled. He smiled back.

**"How are you alive?" Dylan's form flickered. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"**

Annabeth was thinking. _Lightning=Zeus… No! It can't be! _"Hey guys? How far into the future is this?"

Leo and Piper thought for a second. "One or two years, I think."

"Oh, okay." _So he would've been over twelve…_

**"My turn," Jason said.**

**He reached in his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. He let his instincts take over, flipping the coin in the air like he'd done it a thousand times. He caught it in his palm, and suddenly he was holding a sword - a wickedly sharp double edged weapons. The ridged grip fit his fingers perfectly, and the whole thing was gold - hilt, handle, and blade.**

The pasts all gasped, and the futures all laughed.

**Dylan snarled and backed up. He looked at his two comrades and yelled, "Well? Kill him!"**

**The other storm spirits didn't look happy with that order, but they flew at Jason, their fingers crackling with electricity.**

**Jason swung at the first spirit. His blade passed through it, and the creature's smoky form disintegrated. The second spirit let loose a bolt of lightning, but Jason's blade absorbed the charge. Jason stepped in - one quick thrust, and the second storm spirit dissolved into gold powder.**

Annabeth gasped. "Those are very hard to kill! Almost impossible, in fact, because they can turn into air particles, which you can't really cut."

Percy frowned. "Then how come Jason can?"

"I don't know…"

"Annabeth doesn't know something!" The Stolls exclaimed wildly. "It's the end of the world!"

"Oh shut up!"

**Piper was so stunned she dropped her club. "Jason, how...?"**

**Then Coach Hedge leaped back onto the skywalk and dumped Leo like a sack of flour.**

"That was really embarrassing."

**"Spirits, fear me!" Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arms. Then he looked around and realized there was only Dylan. "Curse it, boy!" he snapped at Jason. "Didn't you leave some for me? I like a challenge!"**

**Leo got to his feet, breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated, his hands bleeding from clawing at the rocks.**

**"Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are - I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!"**

**Dylan hissed at them, but Jason could see fear in his eyes. "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy **_**all **_**demigods. This war you **_**cannot **_**win."**

Everyone looked at the futures. "We almost didn't." Piper sighed.

"_Almost_."

Everyone whipped around. "Jason!" Piper jumped in his arms, and Leo sat down next to him. "Do you understand the situation?"

"Yep."

"So you're Jason." Percy looked him over. "I have decided I like you, weird golden boy."

"Okay then."

**Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and Jason had to crouch to keep his balance.**

**A hole opened in the clouds - a swirling vortex of black and silver.**

**"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouted with glee. "And you, demigod, will come with me!"**

"Imagine what would've happened if he had gotten Jason." Piper spoke

"Oh gods."

"We would've all died."

"Multiple times."

"I am important, aren't I?"

"And the ego inflates."

**He lunged at Jason, but Piper tackled the monster from behind. Even though he was made of smoke, Piper somehow managed to connect. Both of them went sprawling. Leo, Jason, and the coach surged forward to help, but the spirit screamed with rage. He let loose a torrent that knocked them all backward. Jason and Coach Hedge landed on their butts. Jason's sword skidded across the glass. Leo hit the back of his head and curled on his side, dazed and groaning. Piper got the worst of it. She was thrown off Dylan's back and hit the railing, tumbling over the side until she was hanging by one hand over the abyss.**

Thalia looked like she was going to be sick.

**Jason started toward her, but Dylan screamed, "I'll settle for this one!"**

**He grabbed Leo's arm and began to rise, towing a half conscious Leo below him. The storm spun faster, pulling them upward like a vacuum cleaner.**

**"Help!" Piper yelled. "Somebody!"**

**Then she slipped, screaming as she fell.**

Silence. No one breathed. And just as Apollo was going keep reading-


	4. Jason can fly, right?

**Disclaimer: Not my book. If it was, there would be more breaking of the fourth wall.**

_And just as Apollo was going to keep reading-_

A bright light filled the room. By now they were used to this, so it was only sort of surprising when a short latino fell into the room. "Is that me?" Leo asked.

"Who are you?" Past-Leo **(Past-Leo is Past-Leo, and Leo is Future-Leo)** asked. He sounded scared, and his voice was cracked. He couldn't have been older than 12, and his eyes were terrified. But, they also held determination, and fierceness.

Hestia stood up and laid a hand on Past-Leo's shoulder. He flinched, but her calming nature relaxed him. "We are you and your friends from the future. We are reading a book about the future." He still looked tense, but he looked like he believed her. "Now," Hestia turned to the rest of them. "Introduce yourselves." They went clockwise from the god on the left (Hades) to the demigod on the right (Leo)

"Hades, God of Riches, the Underworld, and Death."

"God?" Leo asked.

"Yes child. The greek gods exist." Hestia smiled.

"Like the Minotaur, Hellhounds, and cyclops?"

"Sadly, yes."

"Dionysus, God of Wine and Partying."

"Hermes, God of the Roadways, Travelers, Merchants and Thieves."

"Hephaestus, God of Blacksmiths and Fire."

"Apollo, God of Archery, Music, Poetry, Prophecy, Medicine, and the Sun."

"Ares, God of War."

"Poseidon, God of the Sea, Bringer of Earthquakes."

"Zeus, God of the Sky, King of the Gods."

"Hera, Goddess of Marriage, Mothers and Families."

"Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, War, and Useful Arts."

"Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, the Hunt, and Young Maidens."

"Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty."

"Demeter, Goddess of Agriculture."

"Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter."

"Connor,"

"And Travis,"

"Stoll!"

"Sons of Hermes."

"Travis! That's my line!"

"Well too bad."

"Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares."

"Chris Rodriguez, son of Hermes."

"Drew Tanaka, daughter of Aphrodite."

"Lacy, daughter of Aphrodite."

"Mitchell, son of Aphrodite."

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, lieutenant to the Hunters of Artemis."

"Will Solace, son of Apollo."

"Tyson!"

"Grover Underwood, satyr, Lord of the Wild."

"Lou Ellen, unclaimed."

"Nyssa, daughter of Hephaestus."

"Pollux, son of Dionysus."

"Clovis, unclaim-" He fell over and started snoring.

"Miranda Gardner, daughter of Demeter."

"Piper."

"Jason."

"Cool." Past-Leo was smiling. "Who are you?"

"I am Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and the Home." Hestia was happy he asked.

"Cool! What am I doing here, then?" He looked confused.

"You forgot about me!" Leo spoke up.

"Is that…?" Past-Leo stuttered.

"Leo Valdez, humble son of Hephaestus." Leo smiled. Past-Leo looked even more confused.

A couple minutes later, they had summarized the last chapter and a half for Past-Leo, and were ready to read again.

"**Jason, go!" Hedge yelled. "Save her!"**

"He's not really going to, right?" Annabeth sounded kind of worried.

**The coach launched himself at the spirit with some serious goat fu-lashing out his hooves, knocking Leo free of the spirit's grasp. Leo dropped safely from the floor, but Dylan grappled the coach's arm instead. Coach tried to headbutt him, then kicked him and called him a cupcake. They rose in the air, gaining speed.**

**Coach Hedge shouted down once more, "Save her! I got this!" The the satyr and the storm spirit spiraled into the clouds and disappeared.**

_**Save her? **_**Jason thought. **_**She's gone!**_

"Thanks Jason. Really, thanks." Piper said, with a voice practically dripping sarcasm.

"Sorry!"

**But his instincts won over. He ran to the railing, thinking, **_**I'm a lunatic, **_**and jumped over the side.**

Everyone gasped. "Seriously! How are you not dead!?" Percy cried at him.

**Jason wasn't scared of heights. He was scared of being smashed against the canyon floor five hundred feet below. **

"I agree." Leo, Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Past-Leo, Nico and Will said. Thalia nodded shakily.

"Wimps." Ares murmured. He got multiple glares sent his way, all of which he ignored.

**He figured he hadn't accomplished anything except for dying along with Piper, but he tucked in his arms and plummeted headfirst. The sides of the canyon raced past like a film on fast-forward. His face felt like it was peeling off.**

**In a heartbeat, he caught up with Piper, who was flailing wildly. He tackled her waist and closed his eyes, waiting for death.**

**Piper screamed. The wind whistled in Jason's ears. He wondered what dying would feel like. He was thinking, probably not so good. He wished somehow they could never hit bottom.**

Zeus nodded. That should work.

**Suddenly the wind died. Piper's scream turned into a strangled gasp. Jason thought they must be dead, but he hadn't felt any impact.**

**"J-J-Jason," Piper managed.**

**He opened his eyes. They weren't falling. They were floating in midair, a hundred feet above the river.**

"Zeus…" Annabeth asked, threateningly.

"Yes, Annabeth?"

"Did you have another kid?"

"Maybe…?" He ran from the room. The campers were a mix of surprised, curious, amused, angry, and extremely confused.

Hephaestus turned to Apollo. "Keep reading." He whispered.

**He hugged Piper tight, and she repositioned herself so she was hugging him too. They were nose to nose. Her heart beat so hard, Jason could feel it through her clothes.**

**Her breath smelled like cinnamon. She said, "How did you -"**

**"I didn't," he said. "I think I would know if I could fly..."**

**But then he thought: I don't even know who I am.**

**He imagined going up, Piper yelped as they shot a few feet higher. They weren't exactly floating, Jason decided. He could feel pressure under his feet like they were balancing at the top of a geyser.**

"Cool!" Percy shouted. "That is so cool!"

**"The air is supporting us," he said.**

**"Well, tell it to support us more! Get us out of here!"**

**Jason looked down. The easiest thing would be to sink gently to the canyon floor. Then he looked up. The rain had stopped. The storm clouds didn't seem as bad, but they were still rumbling and flashing. There was no guarantee the spirits were gone for good. He had no idea what had happened to Coach Hedge. And he'd left Leo up there, barely conscious.**

Yes." Leo said. "Don't forget about me. I am very important."

**"We have to help them," Piper said, as if reading his thoughts. "Can you -"**

**"Let's see." Jason thought **_**Up**_**, and instantly they shot skyward.**

**The fact he was riding the winds might've been cool under different circumstances, but he was too much in shock. **

"He's doing a lot better than me in my first monster fight." Percy commented.

Annabeth just looked at him. "You defeated a fury."

"Yes, but I was super confused, and the mist was still affecting me."

She thought for a moment. "Good point."

**As soon as they landed on the skywalk, they ran to Leo.**

**Piper turned Leo over, and he groaned. His army coat was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. But at least he wasn't dead.**

Leo groaned, and slumped over in his seat. Piper, who was next to him, looked at him. She gasped. "His head is bleeding!"

"I'll be fine." He promised. "I just want to know why it's there."

Suddenly, a cell phone fell from the sky and landed on Hades. "Ow!"

"What is that?" Thalia asked, confused.

"That is a cell phone." Nico spoke slowly, like he was correcting a child.

"I know that!" She smacked him. "I meant, what is it doing here?"

Hades spoke. "It has a text."

"You know what texting is?" Percy asked, surprised.

"Yes! I know what texting is!"

"What does it say?" Demeter interrupted.

"It says,

_This is a magic phone. It communicates between the future and you guys. We are adding a fun twist. Every chapter (or so), one of the gods adds a requirement. This is Ares's."_

"Crap." Percy said.

"Sh!" Hades said. "That's not all!"

_His twist is…_

_Everytime the book characters gets hurt, the futures feel the pain too._

Leo groaned again, but managed to concentrate and listen to the message.

_Signed, The Fates,_

_The Gods,_

_And Calypso, who is still mad at you, Leo._

Leo choked. "What!?"

"How do you know Calypso?" Athena asked. Zeus probably wasn't going to keep his pardon-the-good-titans promise, so the only way he could know her…

Aphrodite reached the same conclusion as the wisdom goddess. She squealed. "Caleo!"

"What!?" Leo choked again.

"You two are together!"

"No."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Swear on the river styx?"

"I swear on the river styx." _That I actually am 'with' her, _Leo finished in his head. Jason and Piper looked confused, then they realized his plan.

Aphrodite looked visibly less happy. "Anything else, Hades?"

"Nope."

"Then please continue, Apollo."

**"Stupid...ugly...goat," he muttered.**

**"Where did he go?" Piper asked.**

**Leo groaned even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword...I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?"**

**Jason had forgotten about the sword. He walked over to where it was lying and picked it up. The blade was well balanced. On a hunch he flipped it. Midspin, the sword shrank back into a coin and landed in his palm.**

"Can you show us?" The Stolls pleaded.

Jason frowned, remembering what had happened to it. "No." They looked curious, but Apollo kept reading before they could ask.

**"Yep," Leo said. "Definitely hallucinating."**

**Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. "Jason, those things -"**

**"Venti," he said. "Storm spirits."**

**"Okay. You acted like...like you'd seen them before. Who **_**are **_**you?"**

"Good question." The campers and Past-Leo looked at the futures. "Good question indeed"

**He shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't know."**

**The storm dissipated. The other kids from the Wilderness School were staring out the glass doors in horror. Security guard were working on the locks now, but they didn't seem to be having any luck.**

"Course they didn't." Jason murmured, a little upset about having his head pried open.

**"Coach Hedge said he had to protect three people," Jason remembered. "I think he meant us."**

**"And that thing Dylan turned into..." Piper shuddered. "God, I can't believe it was **_**hitting **_**on me. He called us...what **_**demigods**_**?"**

**Leo lay on his back, staring at the sky. He didn't seem anxious to get up. "Don't know what demi means," he said. "But I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?"**

"Leo?"

"Yes Piper?"

"Stop being annoying."

"No."

**There was a brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk began to widen.**

Thalia gasped. "Get off of there!" She was worried about the trio, especially since learning Jason was a son of Zeus. Maybe even her Jason, son of Zeus.

**"We need to get off this thing," Jason said. "Maybe if we -"**

**"Ohhh-key," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses."**

"Pegasi." Percy automatically corrected. "They hate being called flying horses."

**At first Jason thought Leo **_**had**_ **hit his head to hard. Then he saw a dark shape descending from the east-too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer he could see a pair of winged animals-gray, four-legged, exactly like horses-except each had a twenty foot wingspan. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.**

"Was I driving?" Percy asked.

The threesome glanced at each other. How is he going to react? Leo spoke first. "No, but you're mentioned."

"Cool!"

"**Reinforcements," he said. "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."**

"**Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet. "That sounds painful."**

Artemis looked at him. "Can you ever be serious?"

He looked at her. "Yes." He smiled, but his eyes were sad and dark, not bright and humorous, like they normally were. She shut her mouth.

**"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.**

**Jason watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. They flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. Two teenagers stood in the chariot - a tall blond girl maybe a little older than Jason, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They bother wore jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs.**

**The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulled a knife and ran toward Jason's group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.**

**"Where is he?" the girl demanded. Her gray eyes were fierce and a little startling.**

"Annabeth? Why are you there? And who are you looking for?" Percy questioned his girlfri- no, just friend. His great, maybe even best, friend.

She shrugged. "This is the future. I have no clue."

"**Where's who?" Jason asked.**

**She frowned like his answer was unacceptable. Then she turned to Leo and Piper. "What about Gleeson? Where's your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"**

**The coach's first name was Gleeson? Jason might've laughed if this morning hadn't been so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge:Football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?**

Everyone burst out laughing. Leo turned to Jason. "Inside your own head, you're hilarious!" Jason blushed, and everyone laughed even harder.

**Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some... tornado things."**

"**Venti." Jason said. "Storm spirits."**

**The blonde girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean **_**anema thuellau**_**? That's the greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"**

**Jason did his best to explain, but it was hard to meet those intense gray eyes. About halfway through the story, the other guy in the chariot came over. He stood there glaring at them, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his bicep, which seemed a little unusual.**

"A rainbow tattoo? Why does he have that?" Dionysus asked.

"You'll see." Leo promised.

Annabeth thought for a second. "That doesn't sound like anyone at camp." She said. "Is he new?"

Piper smiled. "Sort of."

**When Jason had finished his story, the blond girl didn't look satisfied. "No, no, no! She **_**told **_**me he would he here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."**

**"Annabeth,"the bald guy grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet.**

**Jason hadn't thought much about it, but he was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by the lightning. His care foot felt okay, but it looked like a lump of charcoal.**

**"The guy with one shoe," said the bald dude. "He's the answer."**

"Is he crazy?" Artemis banged her head on the armrest of her throne as her twin brother asked another stupid question. "No one? Okay."

**"No, Butch," the girl insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked."**

**She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong. "What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with him?"**

**The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.**

**"Annabeth," said the bald dude, Butch, "we gotta leave. Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."**

**She fumed for a moment. "Fine." she fixed Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."**

Percy looked at Annabeth. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." She replied.

**She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot.**

**Piper shook her head. "What's **_**her **_**problem? What's going on?"**

**"Seriously," Leo agreed.**

**"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way."**

**"I'm not going anywhere with her." Jason gestured toward the blonde. "She looks like she wants to kill me."**

**Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."**

"What problem?" Past-Leo asked. The campers and gods didn't know, and the futures didn't make a move to speak.

"**What problem?" Piper asked.**

"**She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing for three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."**

"Who?" Annabeth asked again. Percy felt a weird sensation in his core at Annabeth 'going out of her mind with worry' about some dude who wasn't him.

"**Who?" Jason asked.**

"Exactly." Percy said quietly.

"**Her boyfriend," Butch said.**

Percy froze. Aphrodite almost had a heart attack and died, right there.

"**A guy named Percy Jackson."**


	5. Percabeth tension (I SHIP IT SO HARD)

Warning:Percabeth

Disclaimer:RR owns HoO and PJatO and SoS and other SoS

**"A guy named Percy Jackson."**

Everyone froze. Hestia's eyes darted to the 'couple'. Their jaws were dropped, eyes wide. Athena was the first to really react. "What!?"

Annabeth and Percy stuttered out, "W-w-what?"

"Umm…" Leo said. "You two are all over each other in the future. You mean to tell us that you aren't together one year before Perce goes missing?"

Percabeth was still silent, so Piper spoke up. "Apparently."

Athena was still fuming. "Perseus Jackson! Stay away from my daughter!"

He jumped, still uncomfortable about the direction this conversation was going. "I don't.. I won't.. What?"

Piper smiled. "Tension…"

Annabeth calmed down a bit. "We aren't together."

Percy jumped on the chance. "Right! We aren't!"

The futures and campers exchanged knowing glances. "Right…"

Leo, sensing tension between Percy and Annabeth, took the book from Apollo and started reading. The two of them settled in on the chairs they were given, but Past-Leo noticed their straight backs, darting eyes, and the tenseness in their jaws that showed that for the next few chapters they weren't going to be exactly comfortable for anyone.

**After a morning of storm spirits, goat men, and flying boyfriends, Piper should've been losing her mind. Instead, all she was feeling was dread.**

"Why?" Travis asked.

The futures exchanged glances, but stayed silent.

**It's starting, she thought. Just like the dream said.**

"What's starting? What dream?" No one answered Travis.

**She stood in the back of the chariot with Leo and Jason, while the bald guy, Butch, handled the reins, and the blonde girl, Annabeth, adjusted a bronze navigation device. They rose over the Grand Canyon and headed east, icy wind ripping straight through Piper's jacket. Behind them, more storm clouds were gathering.**

**The chariot lurched and bumped. It had no seatbelts and the back was right open, so Piper wondered if Jason would catch her again if she fell.**

Piper was proud when Aphrodite managed to contain her squeal of delight, but was exasperated when she let it out anyway.

**That had been the most disturbing part of the morning-not that Jason could fly, but that he'd held her in his arms and yet didn't know who she was.**

Aphrodite squealed again.

**All semester she'd worked on a relationship, trying to get Jason to notice her as more than a friend. Finally she'd gotten the big dope to kiss her.**

Jason reached out a hand and took Piper's. She beamed.

**The last few weeks had been the best in her life. And then, three nights ago, the dream had ruined everything-that horrible voice, giving her horrible news.**

"What horrible news?" Travis asked, but by now it was rhetorical anyways.

**She hadn't told anyone about it, not even Jason.**

**Now she didn't even have him. It was like someone had wiped his memory, and she was stuck in the worst "do over" of all time. She wanted to scream. Jason stood right next to her: those sky blue eyes, close cropped hair, that cute little scar on his upper lip. His face was kind and gentle, but always a little sad. And he just stared at the horizon, not even noticing her.**

Piper blushed at the description, while Jason only smiled. Aphrodite started fanning herself.

**Meanwhile, Leo was being annoying, as usual.**

"Hey!"

"It's true."

**"This is so cool!' He spit a pegasus feather out of his mouth. "Where are we going?"**

**"A safe place," Annabeth said. "The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood."**

"Liar!" Leo shouted.

Nyssa looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Leo looked sheepish. "Spoilers?"

**"Half-Blood?" Piper was immediately on guard. She hated that word. She'd been called a Half-Blood too many times-half Cherokee, half white-and it was never a compliment. "Is that some kind of bad joke?"**

Annabeth looked sorry. "I didn't mean it like that."

Piper smiled at her. "It's cool. I know you didn't."

**"She means we're demigods," Jason said. "Half god, half mortal."**

"How does he know that?" Travis asked. No one answered.

**Annabeth looked back. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."**

"You kept your word about the minor gods and goddesses!" Percy shouted. He and Annabeth hugged, but then they jumped back, their faces bright red, and looked anywhere but at each other.

**Leo choked. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?"**

**"Got a problem with that?" Butch said.**

**"No, no," Leo said. "Rainbows. Very macho."**

The Stolls burst out laughing. Katie hit them.

**"Butch is our best equestrian," Annabeth said. "He gets along great with the pegasi."**

**"Rainbows, ponies," Leo muttered.**

Now Apollo and Hermes joined the Stolls.

**"I'm gonna toss you off this chariot," Butch warned.**

**"Demigods," Piper said. "You mean you think you're… you think we're-"**

**Lightning flashed. The chariot shuddered, and Jason yelled, "Left wheel's on fire!"**

Suspense was back, and Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Zeus, and Athena looked worried for their kids.

**Piper stepped back. Sure enough, the wheel was burning, white flames lapping up the sides of the chariot.**

**The wind glanced behind them and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling toward the chariot-except these looked more like horses then angels.**

**She started to say, "Why are they-"**

Annabeth responded to the looks she was getting. "Anemoi come in different shapes. Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic the are"

**"Anemoi come in different shapes," Annabeth said. "Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic the are.**

Leo laughed. "No need to repeat yourself."

**Hold on. This is going to get rough."**

**Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. Piper's stomach crawled into her throat.**

Piper coughed, and swayed, blinking the dark spots out of her eyes.

**Her vision went black, and when it came back to normal, they were in a totally different place.**

"CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" The campers (plus the futures) screamed. Past-Leo looked curious, wondering what this camp was and why it was so important to everyone.

**A cold gray ocean stretched out to the left. Snow-covered fields, roads, and forests spread to the right. Directly below them was a green valley, like an island of springtime, rimmed with snowy hills on three sides and water to the north. Piper saw a cluster of buildings like ancient Greek temples, a big blue mansion, ball courts, a lake, and a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire. But before she could really process what she was seeing, their wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky.**

"Schist!" The futures all shouted.

Annabeth yelped. "I felt that too."

**Annabeth and Butch tried to maintain control. The pegasi labored to hold the chariot in a flight pattern, but they seemed exhausted by their burst of speed, and bearing the chariot and the weight of five people was just too much.**

**"The lake!" Annabeth yelled. "Aim for the lake!"**

**Piper remembered something her dad had once told her, about hitting water from up high being as bad as hitting cement.**

"Not for me." Percy smirked. He looks so cute… Annabeth thought. Wait, what?! Get out of my head, Aphrodite.

Why do you think I'm in your head? Aphrodite mind-spoke (or whatever you call it.).

I do not have a crush on my best friend! Annabeth insisted.  
>The future says otherwise… Annabeth blushed bright red.<p>

**And then-BOOM.**

The chariot four shivered. Percy laid a hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "It'll be over soon." _Please let go, please let go, please let go, please let go…_

_ Don't deny it, Annie!_

"Don't call me Annie!"

Everyone looked at her. "I said that out loud didn't I?" They nodded. "Figures." Percy, both Leos, the Stolls, Hermes, Apollo, Poseidon, and Chris giggled.

**The biggest shock was the cold. She was underwater, so disoriented that she didn't know which way was up.**

**She just had time to think: This would be a stupid way to die. Then faces appeared in the green murk-girls with long black hair and glowing yellow eyes. They smiled at her, grabbed her shoulders, and hauled her up.**

"I like the nymphs." Percy commented.

**They tossed her, gasping and shivering, onto the shore. Nearby, Butch stood in the lake, cutting the wrecked harnesses off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses looked okay, but they were flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere. Jason, Leo and Annabeth were already on shore, surrounded by kids giving them blankets and asking questions. Somebody took Piper by the arms and helped her stand. Apparently kids fell into the lake a lot, because a detail of campers ran up with a big bronze leaf blower-looking things and blasted Piper with hot air; and in about two seconds her clothes were dry.**

"I've never seen that." Percy frowned.

Jake smiled. "That's 'cause you've never needed it."

**There were about twenty campers milling around-the youngest maybe nine, the oldest college age, eighteen or nineteen-and all of them had orange t-shirts like Annabeth's. Piper looked back at the water and saw those strange girls just below the surface, their hair floating in the current. They waved, like toodle-oo and disappeared into the depths. A second later the wreckage of the chariot was tossed from the lake and landed nearby with a crunch.**

**"Annabeth!" A guy with a bow and quiver on his back pushed through the crowd. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"**

**"Will, I'm sorry,"**

"Look! I'm mentioned!"

**Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."**

**Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up Piper, Leo, and Jason. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"**

"You mean they have to be claimed before they turn thirteen?" Connor asked.

"Yep." Leo spoke. "They're are also cabins for the minor gods and goddesses, like Hecate, Hypnos, Ireis, Nemesis, and Nike."

"Cool."

**"Claimed?" Leo asked.**

**Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"**

**"No," Annabeth admitted.**

**The campers muttered. Piper had no idea who this Percy was, but his disappearance seemed like a big deal.**

"Course it was!" Grover spoke. "If Percy went missing, the whole camp would be sent into a state of panic."

Percy blushed. "I'm not that important."

"Yes you are." All the campers, the futures, Apollo, Hermes, Poseidon, Artemis, and Hestia said.

"Oh…"

**Another girl stepped forward-tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup.**

"Drew…" Piper said. The Aphrodite Cabin shuddered.

Drew looked up. "I'm in the book? Good.." She winked at Jason. Piper shot her a look of death.

**Somehow she managed to make jeans and an orange t-shirt look glamorous. She glance at Leo, fixed her eyes on Jason like he might be worthy of her attention, then curled her lip at Piper as if she were a week-old burrito that had been pulled out of a Dumpster.**

Aphrodite looked at her daughter. "Drew, remember what I said. Don't make fun of someone. Just because we like fashion doesn't mean we're shallow."

**Piper knew this girl's type. She'd dealt with a lot of girls like this at the Wilderness School and every other stupid school her father had sent her to. Piper knew instantly they were going to be her enemies.**

**"Well," the girl said, "I hope they're worth the trouble."**

Aphrodite frowned.

**Loe snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"**

**"No kidding," Jason said. "How about some answers before you start judging us-like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"**

"I had the same questions." Said all the campers who had been brought to camp before having anything explained to them.

**Piper had the same questions, but a wave of anxiety washed over her. Worth the trouble. If they only knew about her dream. They had no idea…**

"You're right." Travis said. "We have no idea."

**"Jason," Annabeth said, "I promise you we'll answer your questions. And Drew"-she frowned at the glamour girl-"all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I'd hoped."**

"Me" Percy said. But not in a vain tone, but an I'm-stating-a-fact tone.

**"Hey," Piper said, "we didn't ask to be brought here."**

**Drew sniffed. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"**

Aphrodite's eye twitched and Piper's hands clenched.

**Piper stepped forward, ready to smack her, but Annabeth said, "Piper, stop."**

**Piper did. She wasn't scared of Drew, but Annabeth didn't seem like someone she wanted for an enemy.**

"She's not." Leo murmured.

Annabeth heard. "You sound like you speak from experience."

"Right after we met Reyna and Octavian."

Piper gasped. "Leo! We already established that was not your fault!"

He shrugged. "She still hated me for a while."

**"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome," Annabeth said, with another pointed look at Drew. "We'll assign them all a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully, by campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."**

"By campfire?" Lou Ellen asked.

"It gets a lot faster." Jason responded.

"Who's my parent?" She asked him.

"You're Lou Ellen right?" She nodded. "Counselor of the Hecate Cabin."

She blinked in surprise. "Cool."

**"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.**

**Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers all backed away. At first Piper thought she'd done something wrong. Then she realized their faces were bathed in a strange red light, as if someone had lit a torch behind her. She turned and almost forgot how to breathe.**

"This would be a perfect cliffhanger." Travis commented.

**Floating over Leo's head was a blazing holographic image - a fiery hammer.**

**"That," Annabeth said, "is claiming."**

**"What'd I do?" leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.**

Katie turned to the Leos. "Wouldn't you be able to feel if you hair was on fire?" She asked them.

They choked, and Piper and Jason realized the problem. "Course he would be able to feel it. It was just a brain fart." Piper said.

**"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse -"**

**"Butch, shut up," Annabeth said.**

"What curse?" Everyone looked at Jake and the rest of cabin nine.

They all shrugged. "I don't know."

**"Leo you've just been claimed -"**

**"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?" All eyes turned to him.**

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

**"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"**

Some people laughed, but most were thinking too hard to do more than smile.

**"I'm not sure."**

**"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"**

"Star Trek?" Nyssa told her father. "Is that seriously what happened to your name?"

He sighed. "Sadly."

**"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth said, "the god of blacksmiths and fire."**

**The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. "The god of what? Who?"**

**Annabeth turned to the guy with the bow.**

"Name's Will."

**"Will, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunkmates in Cabin Nine.""Sure, Annabeth."**

**"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"**

**"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything. " Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.**

**Annabeth turned her attention back to Jason. Usually Piper didn't like it when other girls check out her boyfriend, but Annabeth didn't seem to care that he was good-looking guy.**

"Too busy looking at Percy." Leo murmured. Annabeth heard him and then she glared at him. He smirked at her. "Your glare is a lot scarier in the future." She narrowed her eyes. His smirk widened.

**She studied him more like he was a complicated blueprint. Finally she said, "Hold out your arm."**

**Piper saw what she was looking at, and her eyes widened.**

**Jason had taken off his windbreaker after his dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare, and on the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo. How had Piper never noticed it before? She'd looked at Jason's arms a million times. The tattoo couldn't have just appeared, but it was darkly etched, impossible to miss: a dozen straight lines like a barcode, and over that an eagle with the letters SPQR.**

They looked at Jason, and he showed them. The gods almost all had heart attacks.

**"I've never seen marks like this," Annabeth said. "Where did you get them?"**

**Jason shook his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."**

**The other campers pushed forward, trying to get a look at Jason's tattoo. the marks seemed to bother them a lot;- almost like a declaration of war.**

"It almost was." Athena murmured.

**"They look burned into your skin," Annabeth noticed.**

**"They were, " Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching. "I mean... I think so. I don't remember."**

Jason flinched. "It hurt like hell."

**No one said anything. It was clear the campers saw Annabeth as the leader. They were waiting for her verdict.**

**"He needs to go straight to Chiron," Annabeth decided. "Drew, would you -"**

**"Absolutely." Drew laced her arm through Jason's. "This way, sweetie. I'll introduce you to our director. He's... an interesting guy."**

Connor snorted. "You can say that again."

**She flashed Piper a smug look and led Jason toward the big blue house on the hill.**

**The crowd began to disperse, until only Annabeth and Piper were left.**

**"Who's Chiron?" Piper asked. "Is Jason in some kind of trouble?"**

**Annabeth hesitated. "Good question, Piper. Come on, I'll give you a tour. We need to talk.**

They were interrupted by another flash of light.

**Who should it be?**

**Future Percabeth?**

**Past Seven (any of them)?**

**Future Seven (any of them)?**

**Future Gods?**

**Coach Hedge?**

**Nico?**

**A Roman?**

**Remember the god-favor thingie? What should the favors be for:**

**Apollo**

**Hermes**

**Artemis**

**Aphrodite**

**Hephaestus**

**Athena**

**Any of them?**

**Please respond to my questions.**

**Thanks**

**DOA999**


	6. Through the Looking Glass

**If you're confused, that's probably because I realized I only had like three more pages in the Piper chapter so I just added it. If you want, go and read the last couple paragraphs of my last chappie. Thanks. Also, I found a new thing that I can copy-paste the original words, so the chapters will be longer and more frequent (PM me if you want to know how.) **

**I'm turning it to Past Leo is P-Leo, and if there are two of the same character then it is F-_ or P-_.**

**Disclaimer:I don't own any characters or bold. Rick Riordan does.**

_They were interrupted by another flash of light._

The light died, and standing there was Percy and Annabeth. They were the same, overall. Both sets had a blonde-haired, gray-eyed daughter of Athena, and a black-haired, green-eyed son of Poseidon. But the new set was a little different. F-Percy was taller, tanner leaner, more muscular, while F-Annabeth was thinner, curvier **(don't judge me.)**, tanner, and her eyes were more calculating. Their eyes were shut, and they opened them in unison. Their eyes were darker, colder, as if they had been to hell and back (which, technically, they had.). They drank up the world around them, while everyone else stared at them. Percy **(Percy is Past-Percy, F-Percy is Future-Percy, same with the Annabeths.)** was the first to speak. "Let me guess. Future Annabeth and Percy from after the 'quest' with these three," He pointed to the futures. They waved, "and you were sent here by the fates to read five books."

F-Percy and F-Annabeth nodded. "Yep."

"You know where we are?"

"Yep."

"I want to read!" Travis said.

"You can read?" Katie asked mockingly.  
>"Shut up." He took the book from Leo.<p>

**Piper soon realized Annabeth's heart wasn't in the tour.**

**She talked about all this amazing stuff the camp offered - magic archery, Pegasus riding, the lava wall, fighting monsters - but she showed no excitement, as if her mind we elsewhere. She pointed out the open-air dining pavilion that over looked Long Island Sound. (Yes, Long Island, New York; they'd traveled **_**that**_ **far on the chariot.) Annabeth explained how Camp Half-Blood was mostly a summer camp, but some kids stayed here year-round, and they'd added so many campers it was always crowded now, even in winter.**

"Really?" Percy asked.

F-Percy laughed. "So much changes. No more undetermined, new cabins for the minor gods with kids and shrines for all the the minor ones who don't. There's at least a hundred more kids, and the camp needed to be expanded to almost twice it's original size!"

Percy gaped. "Seriously?"

"Seriously!"

**Piper wondered who ran the camp, and how they'd known Piper and her friends belonged here. She wondered if she'd have to stay full-time, or if she'd be any good at the activities. Could you flunk out of monster fighting?**

"Only if you want to die." Clarisse murmured.

**A million questions bubbled in her head, but given Annabeth's mood, she decided to keep quiet.**

"Probably smart."

**As they climbed a hill at the edge of camp, Piper turned and got an amazing view of the valley - a big stretch of woods to the northwest, a beautiful beach, the creek, the canoe lake, lush green fields, and the whole layout of the cabins - a bizarre assortment of buildings arranged like a Greek Omega with a loop of cabins around a central green, and two wings sticking out the bottom on either side. **

"Minor gods?" Annabeth asked.

"Minor gods." F-Annabeth confirmed.

**Piper counted twenty cabins in all. One glowed golden, **

"Me!" Apollo called.

**another silver. **

"Me!" Artemis smiled.

**One had grass on the roof. **

"Me!" Demeter shouted.

**Another was bright red with barbed wire trenches. **

"Me!" Ares roared.

**One cabin was black with fiery green torches out front.**

"Me?" Hades asked.

F-Percy nodded. "For Nico and Hazel."

"Who?" Annabeth asked.  
>"Nobody!" Percy looked nervous.<p>

**All of it seemed like a different world from the snowy hills and fields outside.**

**"The valley is protected from mortal eyes," Annabeth said. "As you can see, the weather is controlled, too. Each cabin represents a Greek god - a place for that god's children to live."**

**She looked at Piper like she was trying to judge how Piper was handling the news.**

**"You're saying Mom was a goddess."**

"Yep."

**Annabeth nodded. "You're taking this awfully calmly."**

**Piper could tell her why. She couldn't admit that this just confirmed some weird feelings she'd had for years, arguments she'd had with her father about why there were no photos of Mom in the house, and why Dad would never tell her exactly how or why her mom had left them. But mostly, the dream had warned her this was coming. **_**Soon they will find you, demigod, **_**that voice had rumbled. **_**When they do, follow our directions. Cooperate, and your father might live.**_

Piper shivered, and Jason put his arms around her. She leaned into him, and Aphrodite and her cabin cooed.

**Piper took a shaky breath. "I guess after this morning, it's a little easier to believe. So who's my mom?"**

**"We should know soon," Annabeth said. "You're what - fifteen? Gods are supposed to claim you when you're thirteen. That was the deal."**

**"The deal?"**

**"They made a promise last summer... well, long story... **

"Really long story." The campers and F-Percy and Annabeth murmured to themselves. Poseidon smirked, full of fatherly pride.

**but they promised not to ignore their demigod children anymore, to claim them by the time they turn thirteen. Sometimes it takes a little longer, but you saw how fast Leo was claimed once he got here. Should happen for you soon. Tonight at the campfire, I be we'll get a sign."**

"We did." Piper said. "And it was very embarrassing."

"I liked it." Jason said. **(I know that's a little OOC, but I really wanted to add it.)**

**Piper wondered if she'd have a big flaming hammer over her head, or with her luck, something even more embarrassing. A flaming wombat, maybe. Whoever her mother was, Piper had no reason to think she'd be proud to claim a kleptomaniac daughter with massive problems. "Why thirteen?"**

**"The older you get," Annabeth said, "the more monsters notice you, try to kill you. 'Round thirteen is usually when it starts. That's why we send protectors into the schools to find you guys, get you to camp before it's too late."**

**"Like Coach Hedge?"**

**Annabeth nodded. "He's - he was a satyr: half man, half goat. Satyrs work for camp, finding demigods, protecting them, bringing them in when the time is right."**

"Unlike where I'm from." Jason said. F-Percy smirked, remembering Don.

**Piper had no trouble believing that Coach Hedge was half goat. She'd seen the guy eat.**

"Like Grover." F-Annabeth said. Grover blushed. Everyone else laughed.

**She'd never liked the coach much, but she couldn't believe he'd sacrificed himself to save them.**

**"What happened to him?" she asked. "When we went into the clouds, did he... is he gone for good?"**

**"Hard to say." Annabeth's expression was pained. "Storm spirits... difficult to battle. Even our best weapons, Celestial bronze, will pass right through them unless you can catch them by surprise."**

**"Jason's sword just turned them to dust," Piper remembered.**

"Yep." Leo said. "'Cause Jace got mad skills."

**"He was lucky, then. If you hit a monster just right, you can dissolve them, send their essence back to Tartarus."**

**"Tartarus?"**

F-Percy and Annabeth shivered, and the futures looked apologetic. Nobody else noticed, except Poseidon, who looked worried about what happens to his son.

**"A huge abyss in the Underworld, where the worst monsters come from. Kind of like a bottomless pit of evil. Anyway, once monster dissolve, it usually takes months, even years before they can re-form again . But since this storm spirit Dylan got away - well, I don't know why he'd keep Hedge alive. Hedge was a protector, though. He knew the risks. Satyrs don't have mortal souls. He'll be reincarnated as a tree or a flower or something."**

**Piper tried to imagine Coach Hedge as a clump of very angry pansies. That made her feel even worse.**

**She gazed at the cabins below, and an uneasy feeling settled over her. Hedge had died to get her here safely. Her mom's cabin was down there somewhere, which meant she had brothers and sisters, more people she'll have to betray. **_**Do what we tell you,**_ **the voice had said. **_**Or the consequence will be painful. **_**She tucked her hands under her arms, trying to stop them from shaking.**

Piper flinched, and Ares asked a question. "Does she betray them? Does it start a huge war?"

Percy frowned at him and Piper answered. "No, and yes but still no."

**"It'll be okay," Annabeth promised. "You have friends here. We've all been through a lot of weird stuff. We know what you're going through."**

**I doubt that, Piper thought. "I've been kicked out of five different schools the past five years," she said. "My dad's running out of places to put me."**

**"Only five?" Annabeth didn't sound like she was teasing.**

"I probably wasn't." Annabeth said. "I've been through hell."

F-Annabeth smiled at the irony of her word choice. "You can say that again." She said very softly, so no one but F-Percy heard her. He put his arm around her shoulders, and placed a soft kiss on her cheek, before pulling away.

No one but Aphrodite noticed this small gesture, and she squealed. She smiled a 'fangirl smile' **(you know that smile that takes up your whole face and your eyes squint up and you arch your shoulders in and you laugh softly and everyone looks at you weird and tries to inconspicuously scoot away from you) **and whispered, "Percabeth…" Artemis scooted away from her.

**"Piper, we've all been labeled troublemakers. I ran away from home when I was seven."**

**"Seriously?"**

**"Oh, yeah. Most of us are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder or dyslexia, or both -"**

**"Leo's ADHD," Piper said.**

"Yep!" He said taking a screwdriver and twisting a screw on a thing he was playing with. "Done!" He tossed it at Percy and it blew up in his face.

"What the-!" Percy screamed, but Leo interrupted him.

"That's not what it was supposed to- that's it!" He looked around. "The stupid Fates have stopped time!"

"How did you know that?" Annabeth asked. Leo didn't respond.

**"Right. It's because we're hardwired for battle. Restless, impulsive - we don't fit in with regular kids. You should hear how much trouble Percy -" Her face darkened. "Anyway, demigods get a bad rep. How'd you get in trouble?"**

**Usually when someone asked that question, Piper started a fight, or changed the subject, or caused some kind of distraction. But for some reason she found herself telling the truth. "I steal stuff," she said. "Well, not really **_**steal**_**..."**

**"Is your family poor?"**

F-Percy laughed. "Really Annabeth? Really?"

**Piper laughed bitterly. "Not even. I did it... I don't know why. For attention, I guess. My dad never had time for me unless I got in trouble."**

**Annabeth nodded. "I can relate. But you said you didn't really steal? What do you mean?"**

**"Well... nobody ever believes me. The police, teacher - even the people I took stuff from: they're so embarrassed, they'll deny what happened. But the truth is, I don't steal anything. I just ask people for things. And they give me stuff. Even a BMW convertible. I just asked. And the dealer said, 'Sure. Take it.' Later, he realized what he'd done, I guess. Then the police came after me."**

Drew narrowed her eyes at Piper. That sounded like charmspeak, but there was no way she was related to the Dumpster Queen.

**Piper waited. She was used to people calling her a liar, but when she looked up, Annabeth just nodded.**

**"Interesting. If your **_**dad**_ **were the god, I'd say you're a child of Hermes, god of thieves. He can be pretty convincing. But your dad is mortal..."**

**"Very," Piper agreed.**

**Annabeth shook her head, apparently mystified. "I don't know, then. With luck, your mom will claim you tonight."**

**Piper almost hoped it wouldn't happen. If her mom were a goddess, would she know about that dream? Would she know what Piper had been asked to do? Piper wondered if Olympian gods ever blasted their kids with lightning for being evil, or grounded them in the Underworld.**

**Annabeth was studying her. Piper decided she was going to have to be careful what she said from now on. Annabeth was obviously pretty smart. If anyone could figure out Piper's secret…**

"What is her secret?!" Everyone screamed at the futures.

They smiled and said in complete unison, "Nothing."

**"Come on," Annabeth said at last. "There's something else I need to check."**

**They hiked a little farther until they reached a cave near the top of the hill. Bones and old swords littered the ground. Torches flanked the entrance, which was covered in a velvet curtain embroidered with snakes. It looked like the set for some kind of twisted puppet show.**

"What is that?" Percy asked.

Apollo smiled. "That's the old oracle cave! Does that mean I get a new oracle?"

F-Annabeth shut her mouth and mimed zipping it and throwing away the key.

**"What's in there?" Piper asked.**

**Annabeth poked her head inside, then sighed and closed the curtains. "Nothing, right now. A friend's place. I've been expecting her for a few days, but so far, nothing."**

**"Your friend lives in a cave?"**

"That's a yes!"

**Annabeth almost managed a smile. "Actually, her family has a luxury condo in Queens, and she goes to a finishing school in Connecticut. **

"That sounds like…" Percy said, realizing it was someone he knew, just not realizing who it was exactly.

**But when she's here at camp, yeah, she lives in the cave. She's our oracle, tells the future. I was hoping she could help me -"**

**"Find Percy," Piper guessed.**

**All the energy drained out of Annabeth, like she'd been holding it together for as long as she could. She sat down on a rock, and her expression was so full of pain, Piper felt like a voyeur.**

**She forced herself to look away. Her eyes drifted to the crest of the hill, where a single pine tree dominated the skyline. **

Thalia smiled, thinking about her tree.

**Something glittered in its lowest branch - like a fuzzy gold bath mat. No... not a bath mat. It was a sheep's fleece.**

"Yeah…" Percy smiled.

**Okay, Piper thought. Greek camp. They've got a replica of the Golden Fleece.**

"Yeah." Nico said. "A replica."

**Then she noticed the base of the tree. At first she thought it was wrapped in a pile of massive purple cables. But the cables had reptilian scales, clawed feet, and a snakelike head with yellow eyes and smoking nostrils.**

Annabeth smiled.

**"That's - a dragon," she stammered. "That's the **_**actual **_**Golden Fleece?"**

P-Leo choked. "Okay, that's it. I don't believe this anymore."

Everyone looked at him. Hestia spoke first. "You believe pegasi, gods and time travel but you don't believe dragons?"

"I didn't believe it! I thought I was dreaming!" He said. "But this it too crazy! I felt sick during the chariot scene, wet when we fell in the lake, it doesn't make any sense!"

Hestia smiled at him. "it's okay. Something weird must have happened in your life, right?"

P-Leo thought, and remembered the machine fire. The dirt-lady was weird, his powers were weird, Tia Callida was definitely strange. "Okay…" He said carefully. "I guess some weird stuff has happened before." He looked at his future self. F-Leo sent himself a smile, and P-Leo knew something changed in the future. He wasn't completely put back together, but the facade was more natural to his future self. He smiled. Maybe the fates aren't so cruel to heroes of olympus.

**Annabeth nodded, but it was clear she wasn't really listening. Her shoulder drooped. She rubbed her face and took a shaky breath. "Sorry. A little tired."**

**"You look ready to drop," Piper said. "How long have you been searching for your boyfriend?"**

**"Three days, six hours, and about twelve minutes."**

F-Percy put his arms around F-Annabeth, and she leaned into him. Percy hesitated for a second, but then he reached out and took Annabeth's hand. She stiffened for a second, but then she gripped his hand back. They both beamed.

Aphrodite shed some tears and almost died. "So much love…"

**"And you've got no idea what happened to him?"**

**Annabeth shook her head miserably. "We were so excited because we both started winter break early. We met up at camp on Tuesday, figured we had three weeks together. It was going to be great. Then after the campfire, he - he kissed me good night, went back to his cabin, and in the morning, he was gone.**

A tear leaked out of F-Annabeth's eye. F-Percy was slightly happy he had her heart enough to hurt her, but was dying on the inside to know that he _had _hurt her.

**We searched the whole camp. We contacted him mom. We've tried to reach him every way we know how. Nothing. He just disappeared."**

**Piper was thinking **_**three days ago.**_ **The same night she'd had her dream. "How long were you guys together?"**

**"Since August," Annabeth said. "August eighteenth."**

"That's today." Annabeth realized. she glanced down at her and Percy's intertwined hands. His grip loosened, but he didn't pull away. So, neither did she.

**"Almost exactly when I met Jason," Piper said. "But we've only been together a few weeks."**

**Annabeth winced. "Piper... about that. Maybe you should sit down."**

**Piper knew where this was going. Panic started building inside of her, like her lungs were filling with water. "Look, I know Jason thought - he thought he just **_**appeared**_ **at our school today. But that's not true. I've known him for four months."**

Piper buried her head in her hands.

**"Piper," Annabeth said sadly. "It's the Mist."**

**"Missed... what?"**

"The Mist, Molly." Dionysus said.

"How do you get Molly from Piper?" Piper asked Mr. D.

Apollo responded for him. "They both have five letters." Artemis proceeded to hit her head on her throne.

**"M-i-s-t. It's a kind of veil separating the mortal world from the magic world. Mortal minds - they can't process strange stuff like gods and monsters, so the Mist bends reality. It makes mortals see things in a way they **_**can **_**understand - like their eyes might just skip over this valley completely, or they might look at that dragon and see a pile of cables."**

**Piper swallowed. "No. You said yourself I'm not a regular mortal. I'm a demigod."**

"Even demigods can be affected." Katie said.

**"Even demigods can be affected. I've seen it lots of times. Monsters infiltrate some place like a school, pass themselves off as human, and everyone **_**thinks **_**they remember that person. They believe he's always been around. The Mist can change memories, even create memories of things that never happened -"**

**"But Jason's not a monster!" Piper insisted. "He's a human guy, or demigod, or whatever you want to call him. My memories aren't fake. They're real. The time we set Coach Hedge's pants on fire. The time Jason and I watched a meteor shower on the dorm roof and I finally got the stupid guy to kiss me..."**

Aphrodite sighed. "Young love…"

**She found herself rambling, telling Annabeth about her whole semester at Wilderness School. She'd liked Jason from the first week they'd met. He was so nice to her, and so patient, he could even put up with hyperactive Leo and his stupid jokes.**

"My jokes aren't stupid!" Leo said to Piper.

"Right!" The Stolls defended him. "They're hilarious!"

**He'd accepted her for herself and didn't judge her because of the stupid things she'd done. They'd spent hours talking, looking at the stars, and eventually **_**- finally - **_**holding hands. All that **_**couldn't **_**be fake.**

Piper swallowed, and Jason pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Aphrodite smiled and decide she wasn't going to play with her daughter's love life again.

**Annabeth pursed her lips. "Piper, your memories are a lot sharper than most. I'll admit that, and I don't know why that is. But if you know him so well -"**

**"I do!"**

**"Then where is he from?"**

"San Francisco." Piper said. Hera squirmed, realizing that she had activated Plan Switch.

"San Francisco?" Nico asked. "Why was he in Nevada?"

**"I-I don't know, but -"**

**"Piper, what's his last name?"**

"Grace." She said so quietly no one heard her but Leo and Jason heard her.

Jason put his arms around her, but Leo sat on the other side of her, feeling awkward and murmuring something that sounded strangely like "-stupid organic life forms."

**Her mind went blank. She didn't know Jason's last name. How could that be?**

**She started to cry. She felt like a total fool, but she sat down on the rock next to Annabeth and just fell to pieces. It was too much. Did **_**everything**_ **that was good in her stupid, miserable life have to be taken away? **

Piper shivered. Jason frowned.

_**Yes**_**, the dream had told her. **_**Yes, unless you do exactly what we say.**_

"What dream!?" Thalia exploded. Nico put a hand on her shoulder, and she calmed down a bit.

**"Hey," Annabeth said. "We'll figure it out. Jason's here now. Who knows? Maybe it'll work out with you guys for real."**

**Not likely, Piper thought. Not if the dream had told her the truth. But she couldn't say that.**

**She brushed a tear from her cheek. "You brought me up here so no one would see me blabbering, huh?"**

"Probably."

**Annabeth shrugged. "I figured it would be hard for you. I know what it's like to lose your boyfriend."**

**"But I still can't believe... I **_**know **_**we had something. And now it's just gone, like he doesn't even recognize me. If he really did just show up today, then why? How'd he get there? Why can't he remember anything?"**

"Good questions." Athena said, and Hera sunk into her throne.

**"Good questions," Annabeth said.**

"Like mother like daughter." Poseidon said, smiling. He was then attacked by owls.

**"Hopefully Chiron can figure that out. But for now, we need to get your settled. You ready to go back down?"**

**Piper gazed at the crazy assortment of cabins in the valley. Her new home, a family who supposedly understood her - but soon they'd be just another bunch of people she'd disappointed, just another place she'd been kicked out of.**

"Why would you say that?" Percy asked her.

Annabeth elbowed him in the gut. He didn't even flinch, but she rubbed his elbow. She shook it off and said, "Because a bad guy is blackmailing her to betray camp."

_**You'll betray them for us,**_ **the voice had warned. **_**Or you'll lose everything**_**. She didn't have a choice. "Yeah," she lied. "I'm ready."**

**On the central green, a group of campers was playing basketball. They were incredible shots. Nothing bounced off the rim. Three-pointers went in automatically.**

"My kids." Apollo said proudly. Will smiled.

**"Apollo's cabin," Annabeth explained. "Bunch of showoffs with missile weapons - arrows, basketballs."**

"Hey!"

**They walked past a central fire pit, where two guys were hacking at each other with swords.**

**"Real blades?" Piper noted. "Isn't that dangerous?"**

"Yes." Everyone said in unison.

P-Leo blinked. Real swords? "Awesome!" Everyone looked at him. "Don't judge me."

**"That's sort of the point," Annabeth said. "Uh, sorry. Bad pun. **

"Really bad pun." Annabeth looked sheepish.

**That's my cabin over there. Number Six." She nodded to a gray building with a carved owl over the door. Through the open doorway, Piper could see bookshelves, weapon displays, and one of those computerized SMART Boards they have in classrooms. Two girls were drawing a map that looked like a battle diagram.**

"Mine." Athena said proudly.

**"Speaking of blades," Annabeth said, "come here."**

**She led Piper around the side of the cabin, to a big metal shed that looked like it was meant for gardening tools. **

"Not gardening tools." Piper said.

**Annabeth unlocked it, and inside were **_**not**_ **gardening tools, unless you wanted to make war on your tornado plants. **

Demeter frowned. "Why would you wage war on you tomato plants?"

**The shed was lined with all sorts of weapons - from swords to spears to clubs like Coach Hedge's.**

Clarisse smiled. "I love that shed."

**"Every demigod needs a weapon," Annabeth said. "Hephaestus makes the best, but we have a pretty good selection, too. Athena's all about strategy - matching the right weapon to the right person. Let's see..."**

**Piper didn't feel much like shopping for deadly objects, but she knew Annabeth was trying to do something nice for her.**

**Annabeth handed her a massive sword, which Piper could hardly lift.**

**"No," they both said at once.**

**Annabeth rummaged at little farther in the shed and brought out something else.**

**"A shotgun?" Piper asked.**

**"Mossberg 500." Annabeth checked the pump action like it was no big deal.**

"Imagine," Leo said. "Piper McLean, wielder of a Mossberg 500 shotgun." The Stolls, P-Leo, Hermes, Apollo, and the rest of the Hermes and Apollo cabins burst out laughing. The hunters and Artemis facepalmed. "Boys…"

**"Don't worry. It doesn't hurt humans. It's modified to shoot Celestial bronze, so it only kills monsters."**

**"Um, I don't think that's my style," Piper said.**

**"Mmmm, yeah," Annabeth agreed. "Too flashy."**

**She put the shotgun back and started poking through a rack of crossbows when something in the corner of the shed caught Piper's eye.**

**"What is that?" she said. "A knife?"**

Piper pulled out Katoptris. She looked into the metal. _A row of people, all sitting in a room. In their midst was Nico, Thalia, Frank, Hazel, Grover, Reyna, Rachel, Tyson, Dakoda, Gwen, and many others. They all were watching a big screen, which showed her and the pasts, reading the books. Hazel looked up at her. "We're watching you guys reading the books. One or two of us will join you every chapter or so. I'm on the list to meet you guys next. See ya."_ She looked up. Jason looked at her. He mouthed to her, _see something? _She mouthed back, _tell you later._

**Annabeth dug it out and blew the dust off the scabbard. It looked like it hadn't seen the light of day in centuries. "I don't know, Piper." Annabeth sounded uneasy. "I don't think you want this one. Swords are usually better."**

**"You use a knife." Piper pointed to the one strapped to Annabeth's belt.**

**"Yeah, but..." Annabeth shrugged. "Well, take a look if you want."**

**The sheath was worn black leather, bound in bronze. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. The polished wood handle fit beautifully in Piper's hand. When she unsheathed it, she found a triangular blade eighteen inches long - bronze gleaming like it had been polished yesterday. the edges were deadly sharp. Her reflection in the blade caught her by surprise. She looked older, more serious, not as scared as she felt.**

"Wow…" Hephaestus said. "That sounds beautiful."

"Piper?" Hera asked him, confused.

"What? No." Hephaestus looked at his mother like she was crazy. "The weapon."

**"It suits you," Annabeth admitted. "That kind of blade is called a parazonium. It was mostly ceremonial, carried by high-ranking officers in the Greek armies. It showed you were a person of power and wealth, but in a fight, it could protect you just fine."**

**"I like it," Piper said. "Why didn't you think it was right?"**

**Annabeth exhaled. "That blade has a long story. Most people would be afraid to claim it. Its first owner... well, things didn't turn out too well for her. Her name was Helen."**

"Wait, you mean _the _Helen? Helen of Troy?" P-Leo said.

**Piper let that sink in. "Wait, you mean **_**the **_**Helen? Helen of Troy?"**

Everyone laughed, and P-Leo smiled sheepishly.

**Annabeth nodded.**

**Suddenly Piper felt like she should be handling the dagger with surgical gloves. "And it's just sitting in your tool shed?"**

"You people are crazy." P-Leo said.

Leo nodded. "Well, duh, where else could we be considered normal?"

**"We're surrounded by Ancient Greek stuff," Annabeth said. "This isn't a museum. Weapons like that - they're meant to be used. They're our heritage as demigods. That was a wedding present from Menelaus, Helen's first husband. She named the dagger Katoptris."**

"**Meaning?"**

**"Mirror," Annabeth said. "Looking glass. Probably because that's the only thing Helen used it for. I don't think it's ever seen battle."**

**Piper looked at the blade again. for a moment, her own image stared up at her, but then the reflection changed. She saw flames, and a grotesque face like something carved from bedrock. She heard the same laughter as in her dream. She saw her dad in chains, tied to a post in front of a roaring bonfire. She dropped the blade.**

Everyone gasped. "You can see visions with that thing?" Will asked.

Piper nodded. "Saved our lives many, many, many, _many _times."

**"Piper?" Annabeth shouted to the Apollo kids on the court, "Medic! I need some help over here!"**

**"No, it's - it's okay," Piper managed.**

**"You sure?"**

**"Yeah. I just..." She had to control herself. With trembling fingers, she picked up the dagger. "I just got overwhelmed. So much happening today. But... I want to keep the dagger, if that's okay."**

**Annabeth hesitated. Then she waved off the Apollo kids. "Okay, if you're sure. You turned really pale, there. I thought you were having a seizure or something."**

**"I'm fine," Piper promised, thought her heart was still racing. "Is there... um, a phone at camp? Can I call my dad?"**

"No," Chris said. "You'd call monsters."

**Annabeth's gray eyes were almost as unnerving as the dagger blade. She seemed to be calculation a million possibilities, trying to read Piper's thoughts.**

**"We aren't allowed phones," she said. "Most demigods, if they use a cell phone, it's like sending up a signal, letting monsters know where you are. But... I've got one." She slipped it out of her pocket. "Kind of against the rules, but if it can be our secret..."**

"Annabeth!" Travis said, mock horrified. "Bad girl." Katie hit him again.

**Piper took it gratefully, trying not to let her hands shake. She stepped away from Annabeth and turned to face the commons area.**

They were interrupted by a flash of light.

Thanks

DOA999


	7. Piper meets Hera!

The light faded and standing in the center where two more people. One girl and one guy. The girl was around fourteen, and the guy was around sixteen. The girl was medium height for her age, with curly black hair and black skin. Her eyes were speckled with gold, and she was wearing a purple shirt with no markings. She had a roman gladius strapped to her waist. The guy was tall and muscular, with buzzcut dark hair. He looked chinese-canadian, was wearing the same shirt, and had both a spear and a bow with quiver. They looked around before walking over to the futures. The girl spoke first "Hey guys."

"Hey Haze!" Leo said, walking up to them and throwing an arm over each of them. He angled them to face both the gods and the campers. "Everyone, this is Frank Zhang, or chinese-canadian baby man, and this is Hazel Levesque, who I tried to give an endearing nickname, but Frank, sadly, would not let me."

Frank sighed. "Hello people from the past. We are in the second book, and we are here to learn about this idiot." He pointed to Leo. "Oh, and them too." He pointed to Piper and Jason. "We also know who you are. Please continue reading Travis."

Travis obliged.

**She called her dad's private line, even though she knew what would happen. Voice mail. She'd been trying for three days, ever since the dream. Wilderness School only allowed phone privileges once a day, but she'd called every evening, and gotten nowhere.**

**Reluctantly she dialed the other numbers. Her dad's personal assistant answered immediately. "Mr. McLean's office."**

"I hate her." Piper said.

**"Jane," Piper said, gritting her teeth. "Where's my dad?"**

**Jane was silent for a moment, probably wondering if she could get away with hanging up.**

"I do too." Jason and Leo said.

**"Piper, I thought you weren't supposed to call from school."**

**"Maybe I'm not at school," Piper said. "Maybe I ran away to live among the woodland creatures."**

Leo snorted. "Seriously, Piper?"

She shrugged. "I hate her."

**"Mmm." Jane didn't sound concerned. "Well, I'll tell him you called."**

**"Where is he?"**

**"Out."**

**"You don't know, do you?" Piper lowered her voice, hoping Annabeth was too nice to eavesdrop.**

"Sometimes she is." Percy said.

"Sometimes she isn't." F-Percy finished for him.

**"When are you going to call the police, Jane? He could be in trouble."**

**"Piper, we are not going to turn this into a media circus. I'm sure he'd fine. He does take off occasionally. He always comes back."**

**"So it's true. You **_**don't**_ **know -"**

**"I have to go, Piper," Jane snapped. "Enjoy school."**

**The line went dead.**

"I hate her." Almost everybody said.

**Piper cursed. She walked back to Annabeth and handed her the phone.**

**"No luck?" Annabeth asked.**

**Piper didn't answer. She didn't trust herself not to started crying again.**

**Annabeth glanced at the phone display and hesitated. "Your last name is McLean? Sorry, it's not my business. But that sounds really familiar."**

**"Common name."**

"Yeah… Common name my a-"

"Hades! No swearing!"

"Well, sah-ree Demeter."

"Don't you dare be sarcastic with me you little-"

"Both of you shut up." F-Percy interrupted the argument. "Continue Travis."

**"Yeah, I guess. What does your dad do?"**

**"He's got a degree in the arts," Piper said automatically. "He's a Cherokee artist."**

**Her standard response. Not a lie, just not the whole truth. Most people, when they heard that, figured her dad sold Indian souvenirs at a roadside stand on a reservation. Sitting Bull bobble-heads, wampum necklaces, Big Chief tablets - that kind of thing.**

"What does her dad do?" Will asked. No one answered him.

**"Oh." Annabeth didn't look convinced, but she put the phone away. "You feeling okay? Want to keep going?"**

**Piper fastened her new dagger to her belt and promised herself that later, when she was alone, she'd figure out how it worked. **

"I never got to that…" Piper said.

**"Sure," she said. "I want to see everything."**

**All the cabins were cool, but none of them struck Piper as **_**hers**_**. No burning signs - wombats or otherwise - appeared over her head.**

"Thank the gods." Piper murmured.

"Imagine how embaressing that would be." Annabeth said.

**Cabin Eight was entirely silver and glowed like moonlight.**

"Mine." Artemis said proudly. Thalia nodded to her.

**"Artemis?" Piper guessed.**

**"You know Greek mythology," Annabeth said.**

**"I did some reading when my dad was working on a project last year."**

**"I thought he did Cherokee art."**

**Piper bit back a curse. "Oh, right. But - you know, he does other stuff too."**

**Piper thought she'd blown it: McLean, Greek mythology. thankfully, Annabeth didn't seem to make the connection.**

"What connection?" Katie asked.

"Some days I wish people would just think about everything in a way that would be easier for people to understand." Connor said. Katie hit him.

**"Anyway," Annabeth continued, "Artemis us goddess of the moon, goddess of hunting. But no campers. Artemis was an eternal maiden, so she doesn't have any kids."**

**"Oh." That kind of bummed Piper out. She'd always like the stories of Artemis, and figured she would make a cool mom.**

Everyone expected Artemis to get upset, but instead she thanked Piper. "I would've had a kid, actually, if it didn't involve men and pregnancy." Apollo looked shocked.

**"Well, there **_**are **_**Hunters of Artemis," Annabeth amended. "They visit sometimes. They're not the children of Artemis, but they're her handmaidens - this band of immortal teenage girls who adventure together and hunt monsters and stuff." **

**Piper perked up. "That sounds cool. They get to be immortal?"**

**"Unless they die in combat, or break their vows. Did I mention they have to swear off boys? No dating - ever. For eternity."**

**"Oh," Piper said, "Never mind."**

"She would make a great hunter, if it weren't for that stupid son of Jupi-I mean, Zeus."

**Annabeth laughed. For a moment she looked almost happy, and Piper thought she'd be a cool friend to hang out with in better times.**

**Forget it, Piper reminded herself. You're not going to make any friends here. Not once they find out.**

"Once they find out what?" Travis asked.

Katie hit him. "The blackmail, idiot."

**They passed the next cabin, Number Ten, which was decorated like a Barbie house with lace curtains, a pink door, and potted carnations in the windows. They walked by the doorway, and the smell of perfume almost made Piper gag.**

**"Gah, it that where supermodels go to die?"**

**Annabeth smirked. "Aphrodite's cabin. Goddess of love. Drew is the head counselor."**

**"Figures," Piper grumbled.**

**"They're not all bad," Annabeth said. "The last head counselor we had was great."**

**"What happened to her?"**

"I'm sorry." Piper apologized to F-Annabeth.

She shook her head. "You didn't know. It was a far question."

**Annabeth's expression darkened. "We should keep moving."**

**They looked at the other cabins, but Piper just got more depressed. She wondered if she could be the daughter of Demeter, the farming goddess. Then again, Piper killed every plant she ever touched.**

"Don't come near my plants." Demeter warned.

**Athena was cool.**

"Nope." Athena said to Piper. "You're not mine."

**Or maybe Hecate, the magic goddess.**

"Nope." Piper said. "Not her either. I'll give you a hint, it is the least likely to actually be my mother based solely on my personality."

**But it didn't really matter. Even here, where everyone was supposed to find a lost parent, she knew she would still end up the unwanted kid. She was not looking forward to the campfire tonight.**

"She's not unwanted by the end." Jason said.

**"We started with the twelve Olympian gods," Annabeth explained. "Male gods on the left, female on the right. Then last year, we added a whole bunch of new cabins for the other gods who didn't have a throne on Olympus - Hecate, Hades, Iris -"**

**"What are the two big ones on the end?" Piper asked.**

**Annabeth frowned. "Zeus and Hera. King and queen of the gods."**

**Piper headed that way, and Annabeth followed, though she didn't act very excited.**

I wasn't." F-Annabeth murmured.

**The Zeus cabin reminded Piper of a bank. It was white marble with big columns out front and polished bronze doors emblazoned with lightning bolts.**

Zeus smiled.

**Hera's cabin was smaller but done in the same style, except the doors were carved with peacock feather designs, shimmering with different colors.**

Hera smiled. No one might be allowed in there, but she still liked to see it whenever she was forced to go.

**Unlike the other cabins, which were all noisy and open and full of activity, the Zeus and Hera cabins looked closed and silent.**

**"Are they empty?" Piper asked.**

**Annabeth nodded. "Zeus went a long time without having any children. Well, mostly. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, the eldest brothers among the gods - they're called the Big Three. Their kids are really powerful, really dangerous."**

"You betcha." Nico, both Percys, Thalia, and Jason said. Hazel didn't say it, but she thought it really loud.

**"For the last seventy years or so, they tried to avoid having demigod children."**

**"**_**Tried**_ **to avoid it?"**

**"Sometimes they... um, cheated."**

"That's an eloquent way of putting it." Poseidon whispered to Zeus.

**"I've got a friend, Thalia Grace, who's the daughter of Zeus. But she gave up camp life and became a Hunter of Artemis. **

"Me!" Thalia called. "'Cause I'm awesome."

**My boyfriend, Percy, he'd a son of Poseidon. **

"Me." The Percys said.

**And there's a kid who shows up sometimes, Nico - son of Hades. **

"Me!" Nico smiled. Hazel and Frank looked at him. He really changed after Tartarus, they realized.

**Except for them, there are no demigod children of the Big Three gods. At least, not that we know of."**

"Yeah. That we know of." F-Percy murmured.

**"And Hera?" Piper looked at the peacock-decorated doors. The cabin bothered her, thought she wasn't sure why.**

"Why?" Percy asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "She just said she didn't know, Seaweed Brain."

**"Goddess of marriage." Annabeth's tone was carefully controlled, like she was trying to avoid cursing. "She doesn't have kids with anyone but Zeus. So, yeah, no demigods. the cabin's just honorary."**

**"You don't like her," Piper noticed.**

**"We have a long history," Annabeth admitted. "I thought we'd made peace, but when Percy disappeared... I got this weird dream vision from her."**

"Duh, duh, duh…"

"Shut up Apollo."

**"Telling you to come get us," Piper said. "But you thought Percy would be there."**

**"It's probably better I don't talk about it," Annabeth said. "I've got nothing good to say about Hera right now."**

**Piper looked down the base of the doors. "So who goes in here?"**

**"No one. The cabin is just honorary, like I said. No one goes in."**

**"Someone does." Piper pointed at a footprint on the dusty threshold. On instinct, she pushed the doors and they swung open easily.**

"Foolish mortal!" Hera shouted. "No one enters my cabin!"

**Annabeth stepped back. "Um, Piper, I don't think we should -"**

**"We're supposed to do dangerous stuff, right?" And Piper walked inside.**

Hera looked about ready to blow something up, but for some reason that the campers and gods didn't understand, she didn't do anything but fume.

**Hera's cabin was not someplace Piper would want to live. It was as cold as a freezer, with a circle of white columns around a central statue of the goddess, ten feet tall, seated on a throne in flowing golden robes. **

"Sounds homey." Percy murmured.

Hera heard him. "No one is supposed to be there. Of course it isn't 'homey'."

**Piper had always thought of Greek statues as white with blank eyes, but this one was brightly painted so it looked almost human - except huge. Hera's piercing eyes seemed to follow Piper.**

**At the goddess's feet, a fire burned in a bronze brazier. Piper wondered who tended it if the cabin was always empty. **

"Hestia does." Hera told her.

**A stone hawk sat on Hera's shoulder, and in her hand was a staff topped with a lotus flower. The goddess's hair was done in black plaits. Her face smiled, but the eyes were cold and calculating, as if she were saying, **_**Mother knows best. Now don't cross me or I will have to step on you.**_

"Do all my friends have weird ways of thinking?" Leo asked the futures. They hesitated, but then they all nodded. He sighed. "Thought so."

**There was nothing else in the cabin - no beds, no furniture, no bathroom, no windows, nothing that anyone could actually use to live. For a goddess of home and marriage, Hera's place reminded Piper of a tomb.**

**No, this wasn't her mom. At least Piper was sure of **_**that**_**. **

"Of course." Hera said. "I don't have any children with anyone but Zeus."

**She hadn't come in here because she felt a **_**good **_**connection, but because her sense of dread was stronger here. Her dream - that horrible ultimatum she'd been handed - had something to do with this cabin.**

Zeus frowned, "Now you're just being paranoid." But hera bit her lip and looked away.

**She froze. They weren't alone. Behind the statue, at a little altar in the back, stood a figure covered in a black shawl.**

"Is everyone entering forbidden areas these days!?" Hera shouted, throwing up her hands.

Everyone nodded. "Kind of." She sighed, exasperated.

**Only her hands were visible, palms up. she seemed to be chanting something like a spell or a prayer.**

**Annabeth gasped. "Rachel?"**

"Rachel?!"

**The other girl turned. She dropped her shawl, revealing a mane of curly red hair and freckled face that didn't go with the seriousness of the cabin or the black shawl at all. **

"'Course not, it is Rachel, of course." Percy said. Annabeth bristled.

**She looked about seventeen, a totally normal teen in a green blouse and tattered jeans covered with marker doodles. Despite that cold floor, she was barefoot.**

"Again, it is Rachel." Annabeth bristled again.

**"Hey!" She ran to give Annabeth a hug. "I'm so sorry! I came as fast as I could."**

**They talked for a few minutes about Annabeth's boyfriend and how there was no news, et cetera, until finally Annabeth remember Piper who was standing there feeling uncomfortable.**

**"I'm being rude," Annabeth apologized. "Rachel, this is Piper, one of the half-bloods we rescued today. Piper, this is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our oracle."**

"Rachel's the oracle?" Percy exclaimed.

"Yep." Leo said. "She gave the Second Great Prophecy."

"What is it?" Percy asked.

F-Annabeth looked at the other futures. "I guess we could tell them."

Hazel spoke up,

"_Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,_

_To storm or fire the world must fall,_

_An oath to keep with a final breath,_

_And foe bears arms to the doors of death."_

"Well that's terrifying." Will said.

"Analyze it later," F-Annabeth said. "Read the chapter first."

**"The friend who lives in the cave," Piper guessed.**

**Rachel grinned. "That's me."**

**"So you're an oracle?" Piper asked. "You can tell the future?"**

**"More like the future mugs me from time to time," Rachel said. "I speak prophecies. The oracle's spirit kind of hijacks me every once in a while and speaks important stuff that doesn't make any sense to anybody. But yeah, the prophecies tell the future."**

**"Oh." Piper shifted from foot to foot. "That's cool."**

**Rachel laughed. "Don't worry. Everybody finds it a little creepy. Even me. But usually I'm harmless."**

"Usually?"

Once, in the labyrinth, she hit the great titan lord of time in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

The futures took a second to digest this information, then Leo responded. "Sounds hot." Piper, F-Annabeth, and Hazel then proceeded to elbow him, kick his shin, and slap him.

Piper also whispered in his ear. "Don't tell Calypso you said that." He paled visibly.

**"You're a demigod?"**

**"Nope," Rachel said. "Just mortal."**

**"Then what are you..." Piper waved her hand around the room**

**Rachel's smile faded. She glanced at Annabeth, then back at Piper. "Just a hunch. Something about this cabin and Percy's disappearance. They're connected somehow. I've learned to follow my hunches, especially the last months, since the gods went silent."**

"Why did we go silent?" Hephaestus asked the futures.

They shrugged, but Leo responded, "Because Zeus is paranoid and has horrible judgement."

Zeus heard him. "How dare you-!" Leo didn't even flinch as Zeus hurled his thunderbolt at him. There was a blinding flash and a clap of thunder, and when they could all see again they looked at Leo.

He was just sitting on his chair. There were no scratches, his clothes weren't charred, and his chair was perfectly fine. They all stared at him. He held up his arm. "Interesting…"

Hephaestus looked him over. "How did you survive that?"

"Time has stopped, and we can't be hurt." Leo said to his father. "The fates might care what happens to us yet."

**"Went silent?" Piper asked.**

**Rachel frowned at Annabeth. "You haven't told her yet?"**

**"I was getting to that," Annabeth said. "Piper, for the last month... well, it's normal for the gods not to talk to their children very much. But usually we can count on some messages now and then. Some of us can even visit Olympus. I spent practically all semester at the Empire State Building."**

**"Excuse me?"**

**"The entrance to Mount Olympus these days."**

**"Oh," Piper said. "Sure, why not?"**

**"Annabeth was redesigning Olympus after it was damaged in the Titan War," Rachel explained. "She's an amazing architect. You should see the salad bar -"**

Percy smiled. "I love the salad bar. It is awesome enough to make me eat my vegetables!"

F-Annabeth smiled too. "And that is an accomplishment all on it's own."

**"Anyway," Annabeth said, "starting about a month ago, Olympus fell silent. The entrance closed, and no one could get in. Nobody knows why. It's like the gods have sealed themselves off. Even my mom won't answer my prayers, and our camp director, Dionysus, was recalled."**

**"Your camp director was the god of... wine?"**

**"Yeah, it's a -"**

**"Long story." Piper guessed. "Right. Go on."**

"Yes!" Mr. D screamed. He stood on his chair and started doing the macarena. "I'm no longer at the stupid camp, I'm no longer at the stupid camp, I'm no longer at the stupid camp!" He continued for a couple more lines, but then he realized everyone was looking at him. "Don't judge me," he said. Then he sat down. "Please continue, Trevor."

**"That's it, really," Annabeth said. "Demigods still get claimed, but nothing else. No messages. No visits. No sign that the gods are even listening. It's like something has happened - something **_**really **_**bad. Then Percy disappeared."**

**"And Jason showed up on our field trip," Piper supplied. "With no memory."**

**"Who's Jason?" Rachel asked.**

**"My -" Piper stopped herself before she could say "boyfriend," but the effort made her chest hurt. "My friend. But Annabeth, you said Hera sent you a dream vision."**

**"Right," Annabeth said. "The first communication from a god in a month, and it's Hera, the least helpful goddess, and she contacts me, her least favorite demigod."**

**"She tells me I'll find out what happened to Percy if I go to the Grand Canyon skywalk and look for a guy with one shoe. Instead, I find you guys, and the guy with one shoe is Jason. It doesn't make sense."**

"No," Percy said. "It doesn't. So why don't you people tell us!?" He directed the last part to the futures. They ignored him.

**"Something bad is happening," Rachel agreed. She looked at Piper, and Piper felt an overwhelming desire to tell them about her dream, to confess that **_**she **_**knew what was happening - at least part of the story. And the bad stuff was only beginning**

**"Guys," she said. "I -I need to -"**

**Before she could continue, Rachel's body stiffened. Her eyes began to glow with a greenish light, and she grabbed Piper by the shoulders.**

"Schist. This part hurt my head."

**Piper tried to back away, but Rachel's hands were like steel clamps.**

_**Free me, **_**she said. But it wasn't Rachel's voice. It sounded like an older woman, speaking from somewhere far away, down a long, echoing pipe. **_**Free me, Piper McLean, or the earth shall swallow is. It must be by the solstice.**_

"The solstice?" Percy asked. "Why must the due date always be the solstice?"

**The room started spinning. Annabeth tried to separate Piper from Rachel, but it was no use. Green smoke enveloped them, and Piper was no longer sure if she was awake or dreaming. **

Piper gasped, and she started leaning on Jason. He looked worried.

**The giant statue of the goddess seemed to rise from its throne. It leaned over Piper, its eyes boring into her. The statue's mouth opened, its breath like horribly thick perfume. It spoke in the same echoing voice **_**Our enemies stir. The fiery one is only the first. Bow to his will, and their king shall rise, dooming us all. FREE ME!"**_

**Piper's knees buckled and everything went black.**

Piper fainted.

I feel very accomplished right now. This copy-paste thing is definitely working.

Thanks

DOA999


	8. Hephaestus STILL Hates Hera

**Dizclaimer: I don't own the supercalafragalisticmazing PJatO or HoO or SoS or SoS**

Jason reached down to pick Piper up off the floor, but before he could her eyes flew open and she jumped up. "What?" Jason asked.

The phone buzzed, and Hades took it out of his pocket. "We've got another text." He announced. "It says,

_We don't want anyone to miss too much, so if it is an injury that make someone go unconscious, they wake up after the chapter is over."_

"Cool." Piper said.

_But if they are brought back in the next chapter and are still unconscious, they will go unconscious once again._

"Okay." She said in a smaller voice.

Artemis interrupted. "I'll read next."

**Leo's tour was going great until he learned about the dragon.**

"The bronze dragon?" Percy asked, worried.

**The archer dude, Will Solace, seemed pretty cool.**

"Thank you." Wil said.

Leo smiled at him, but on the inside he was freaking out. _Schist, schist, schist..._

**Everything he showed Leo was so amazing, it should've been illegal. Real Greek warships moored at the beach that sometimes had practice fights with flaming arrows and explosives? Sweet!**

"That sounds awesome!" P-Leo shouted.

**Arts & crafts sessions where you could make sculptures with chainsaws and blowtorches? Leo was like, **_**sign me up!**_

"That sounds awesome too." P-Leo said.

**The woods were stocked with dangerous monsters, and no one should ever go in alone? Nice! **

"That sounds-"

"We get it!" Nico interrupted him. "Everything is awesome."

**And the camp was overflowing with fine-looking girls.**

"I'm twelve."

"And was I fifteen. We have different preferences." Leo said with a smile.

**Leo didn't quite understand the whole related-to-the-gods business, but he hoped that didn't mean he was cousins with all these ladies.**

**That would suck. At the very least, he wanted to check out those underwater girls in the lake again. They were definitely worth drowning for.**

"Seriously?" P-Leo asked himself.

He nodded. "Seriously!"

**Will showed him the cabins, the dining pavilion, and the sword arena.**

**"Do I get a sword?" Leo asked.**

**Will glanced at him like he found the idea disturbing.**

"That is disturbing." Hazel said.

"Why?" Leo asked.

"You're destructive enough with a tin of breath mints, imagine the stuff you could do with a solid metal sword and deadly skill with it." Frank said to him.

"That sounds awesome."

"I just gave you an idea, didn't I?"

"Yep."

**"You'll probably make your own, seeing as how you're in Cabin Nine."**

**"Yeah, what's up with that? Vulcan?"**

**"Usually we don't call the gods by their Roman names,"**

"'Cause we're _greek_." F-Percy said.

"Why did you put extra emphasis on greek?" Will asked him.

"No reason."

**Will said. "the original names are Greek. Your dad is Hephaestus."**

**"Festus?" Leo had heard somebody say that before, but he was still dismayed. "Sounds like the god of cowboys."**

**"Hephaestus," Will corrected. "God of blacksmiths and fire."**

**Leo had heard that too, but he was trying not to think about it. The god of fire... seriously? Considering what had happened to his mom, that seemed like a sick joke.**

The Leos froze, and Katie looked at them. "What happened to your mom?"

P-Leo made a sound like, _meep, _and Jason swooped in like the superman he is. "It'll probably explain later." This calmed Katie down, but it made the Leos even more nervous for having their thoughts read for the group to hear.

**"So the flaming hammer over my head," Leo said. "Good thing, or bad thing?"**

**Will took a while to answer. "You were claimed almost immediately. That's usually good."**

"Usually." Piper said.

**"But that Rainbow Pony dude, Butch - he mentioned a curse."**

**"Ah... look, it's nothing. Since Cabin Nine's last head counselor died -"**

**"Died? Like painfully?"**

Percy flinched, and Annabeth took his hand again. He smiled, but still looked guilty. Nico, on the side, gritted his teeth.

**"I ought to let your bunkmates tell you about it."**

**"Yeah, where **_**are **_**my home dawgs? Shouldn't their counselor be giving me the VIP tour?"**

**"He, um, can't. You'll see why." Will forged ahead before Leo could ask anything else.**

"What?" Jake said. "Who is the head counselor? Did I manage to get Nyssa to take it?"

Leo shook his head. "It's you now, but it changes by the end of the book."

"To Nyssa?"

"Nope."

"Then who?"

"I can't say."

**"Curses and death," Leo said to himself. "This just get's better and better."**

"It doesn't get any better." Leo murmured. P-Leo looked at him, nervous.

**He was halfway across the green when he spotted his old babysitter. And she was not the kind of person he expected to see at a demigod camp. **

P-Leo whipped his head around to look at his future self. "Seriously!?"

"Seriously." He replied, dead serious.

P-Leo growled. "Why can't I ever catch a break!?" The futures looked at each other. What was he talking about? **(Yes, I know Leo told Jason and Piper, but for the sake of the story and reactions, pretend they forgot some parts/didn't know the whole story.)**

**Leo froze in his tracks.**

**"What's wrong?" Will asked.**

**Tia Callida - Auntie Callida.**

Hera froze, extremely nervous for this section.

**That's what she'd called herself, but Leo hadn't seen her since he was five years old. She was just standing there, in the shadow of a big white cabin at the end of the green, watching him. She wore her black linen face hadn't changed - leathery skin, piercing dark eyes. Her withered hands were like claws. She looked ancient, but no different than Leo remembered.**

Hera definitely was freaking out now, and P-Leo was terrified to know who she really was.

**"That old lady..." Leo said. "What's she doing here?**

**Will tried to follow his gaze. "What old lady?"**

**"Dude, the old lady. The one in black. How many old ladies do you see over there?"**

**Will frowned. "I think you've had a long day, Leo. The Mist could still be playing tricks on your mind. How about we head straight to your cabin now?"**

Chris looked at Will. "Great job comforting him, dude." Will sheepishly smiled at him.

**Leo wanted to protest, but when he looked back toward the big white cabin, Tia Callida was gone. He was sure she'd been there, almost as if thinking about his mom had summoned Callida back from the past.**

**And that wasn't good, because Tia Callida had tried to kill him.**

"What!?" Hephaestus roared. Hera cowered.

Leo laughed. "She's in this room right now, too!"

Hephaestus's eye twitched, and he glanced around. "Was it… Athena?"

"No."

"Was it Hestia?"

"No."

"A female?"

"Yes."

"Was it… Oh."

"Guessed it?"

"Big, white cabin?"

"Yep."

"Great. Just great."

**"Just messing with you, man." Leo pulled some gears and levers from his pockets and started fiddling with them to calm his nerves. He couldn't have everybody at camp thinking he was crazy. **

Percy laughed. "At least, not crazier than he really was."

**At least, not crazier than he really was.**

Everyone laughed at Percy's look of horror.

**"Let's go see Cabin Nine," he said. "I'm in the mood for a good curse."**

**From the outside, the Hephaestus cabin looked like an oversized RV with shiny metal walls and metal-slatted windows.**

**The entrance was like a bank vault door, circular and several feet thick. It opened with lots of brass gears turning and hydraulic pistons blowing smoke.**

**Leo whistled. "They got a steampunk theme going on, huh?"**

Jake laughed. "Yep."

**Inside, the cabin seemed deserted. Steel bunks were folded against the walls like high-tech Murphy beds. Each had a digital control panel, blinking LED lights, glowing gems, and interlocking gears. Leo figured each camper had his own combination lock to release his bed, and there was probably an alcove behind it with storage, maybe some traps to keep out unwanted visitors. **

"Yep." Nyssa smirked. "I love my cabin."

**At least, that's the way Leo would've designed it. A fire pole came down from the second floor, even though the cabin didn't appear to **_**have **_**a second floor from the outside. **

"You guys have a second floor?!" Travis cried.

Jake laughed again. "We have a lot of secrets no one knows about,Travis."

**A circular staircase led down into some kind of basement. The walls were lined with every kind of power tool Leo could imagine, plus a huge assortment of knives, swords, and other implements of destruction. A large workbench overflowed with scrap metal - screws, bolts, washers, nails, rivets, and a million other machine parts. Leo had a strong urge to shovel them all into his coat pockets. **

Nyssa smiled. "All Hephaestus kids did when they first went in there."

**He loved that kind of stuff. But he'd need a hundred more coats to fit if all.**

**Looking around, he could almost imagine he was back in his mom's machine shop. Not the weapons, maybe - but the tools, the pieces of scrap, the smell of grease and metal and hot engines. She would've loved this place.**

Leo smiled sadly. "She would've."

**He pushed that thought away. He didn't like painful memories. **_**Keep moving**_ **- that was his motto. Don't dwell on things. Don't stay in one place too long. It was the only way to stay ahead of the sadness.**

Jason and Piper looked at the Leos. They whistled and looked away from everyone else. Everyone was thinking, _what does a happy-go-lucky guy like Leo have to stay ahead of the sadness of? _All the Leos were thinking was _please don't have my backstory, please don't have my backstory, please don't have my backstory, please don't have my backstory..._

**He picked a long implement from the wall. "A weed whacker? What's the god of fire want with a weed whacker?"**

**A voice in the shadows said, "You'd be surprised."**

**At the back of the room, one of the bunk beds was occupied. A curtain of dark camouflage material retracted, and Leo could see the guy who'd been invisible a second before. It was hard to tell much about him because he was covered in a body cast. His head was wrapped in gauze except for his face, which was puffy and bruised. He looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy after a beat-down.**

"Who is he?" Jake asked. "And what happened to him?"

**"I'm Jake mason," the guy said.**

Jake and Nyssa gasped. "Now I really want to know what happened."

**"I'd shake your hand, but..."**

**"Yeah," Leo said. "Don't get up."**

**The guy cracked a smile, then winced like it hurt to move his face. Leo wondered what had happened to him, but he was afraid to ask.**

**"Welcome to Cabin Nine," Jake said. "Been almost a year since we had any new kids. I'm head counselor for now."**

**"For now?" Leo asked.**

**Will Solace cleared his throat. "So where is everybody, Jake?"**

**"Down at the forges," Jake said wistfully. "They're working on... you know, that problem."**

"The dragon?" Annabeth asked, already knowing the answer.

Percy looked confused. "But didn't that get fixed?"

"By Beckendorf." Jake said, comprehension dawning on him. "It must have malfunctioned. And without him, nobody could fix it."

**"Oh." Will changed the subject. "So, you got a spare bed for Leo?"**

**Jake studied Leo, sizing him up. "You believe in curses, Leo? Or ghosts?"**

**I just saw my evil babysitter Tia Callida, Leo thought. She's **_**got **_**to be dead after all these years. And I can't go a day without remembering my mom in that machine shop fire. Don't talk to me about ghosts, doughboy.**

"What fire?" Katie asked.

"What about Tia Callida?" Lou Ellen asked.

"Sorry." Jake said to Leo.

He shrugged. "It didn't bother me."

"Sounds like it did." F-Percy said to F-Annabeth. She pursed her lips.

**But aloud, he said, "Ghosts? Pfft. nah. I'm cool. A storm spirit chucked me down the Grand Canyon this morning, but you know, all in a day's work, right."**

**Jake nodded. "That's good. Because I'll give you the best bed in the cabin - Beckendorf's."**

"Really?" Nyssa asked Leo.

Leo smiled. "I love my bunk." Then he frowned. "I didn't sleep there until at least three months later."

Piper gaped at him. "You spent that much time in the-"

Jason interrupted her. "In the woods?"

Leo smiled. "Yep."

**"Whoa, Jake," Will said. "You sure?"**

**Jake called out: "Bunk 1-A, please."**

**The whole cabin rumbled. A circular section of the floor spiraled open like a camera lens, and full-sized bed popped up. The bronze frame had a built-in game station at the foot board, a stereo system in the headboard, a glass-door refrigerator mounted into the base, and a whole bunch of control panels running down the side.**

The Stolls gasped, and P-Leo smiled demonically. "I like this future."

**Leo jumped right in and lay back with arms behind his head. "I can handle this."**

**"It retracts into a private room below," Jake said.**

"Seriously!" The Stolls sounded heartbroken.

**"Oh, heck, yes," Leo said. "See y'all. I'll be down in the Leo Cave. Which button do I press?"**

**"Hold on," Will Solace protested. "You guys have private underground rooms?"**

**Jake probably would've smiled if it didn't hurt so much. "We got lots of secrets, Will. You Apollo guys can't have all the fun. Our campers have been excavating the tunnel system under Cabin Nine for almost a century. We still haven't found the end. **

Everyone but he Hephaestus cabin looked ready to cry.

**Anyway, Leo, if you don't mind sleeping in a dead man's bed, it's yours."**

**Suddenly Leo didn't feel like kicking back. He sat up, careful not to touch any of the buttons. "The counselor who died - this was his bed?"**

"Oh…" P-Leo looked nervous.

**"Yeah," Jake said. "Charles Beckendorf."**

**Leo imagined saw blades coming through the mattress, or maybe a grenade sewn inside the pillows.**

"Seriously?" everyone asked Leo. He shrugged.

**"He didn't, like, die **_**in **_**this bed, did he?"**

**"No," Jake said. "In the Titan War, last summer."**

**"The Titan War," Leo repeated, "which has **_**nothing **_**to do with this very fine bed?"**

"Leo!" Hera said. "Don't be rude."

**"The Titans," Will said, like Leo was an idiot. "The big powerful guys that riled the world before the gods. They tried to make a comeback last summer. Their leader, Kronos, built a new palace on top of Mount Tam in California. Their armies came to New York and almost destroyed Mount Olympus. A lot of demigods died trying to stop them."**

Everyone looked at the ground.

**"I'm guessing this wasn't on the news?" Leo said.**

"No," Percy said, frowning. "It was. Where were you? Living under a rock."

**It seemed like a fair question, but Will shook his head in disbelief. "You didn't hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or the building collapsing in St. Louis?"**

**Leo shrugged. Last summer, he'd been on the run from another foster home. Then a truancy officer caught him in New Mexico, and the court sentenced him to the nearest correctional facility - the Wilderness School. **

"Where were you planning on going?" Hestia asked him.

He shrugged. "Away."

**"Guess I was busy."**

"Yeah." Annabeth said. "Busy."

**"Doesn't matter," Jake said. "You were lucky to miss it. The thing is, Beckendorf was one of the first casualties, and ever since then -"**

**"Your cabin's been cursed," Leo guessed.**

**Jake didn't answer. Leo started noticing little things that he hadn't seen before - an explosion mark on the wall, a stain on the floor that might've been oil... or blood. Broken swords and smashed machines kicked into the corners of the room, maybe out of frustration. The place **_**did **_**feel unlucky.**

Nyssa frowned. Hopefully they get the curse lifted soon.

**Jake sighed half heartedly. "Well, I should get some sleep. I hope you like it here, Leo. It used to be... really nice."**

**He closed his eyes, and the camouflage curtain drew itself across the bed.**

**"Come on, Leo," Will said. "I'll take you to the forges." As they were leaving, Leo looked back at his new bed, and he could almost imagine a dead counselor sitting there - another ghost who wasn't going to leave Leo alone.**

"That's depressing." Piper said.

Leo was still for a moment, and then he jumped up. "I'll read the next chapter, guys!"

Jason shook his head. "No. I don't trust you. _I'll_ read."

Leo frowned. "Dam."

Percy, F-Percy, Grover, and Thalia tried to contain their laughter.

Thanks

DOA999


	9. We Learn of a Dragon Named Happy

**Disclaimer: If you think the bold or character are mine, you are sorely mistaken. They are-**

**Leo Valdez: Rick Riordan's!**

**Leo! I wanted to say that.**

**Leo Valdez: Sorry-**

**Thank you**

**Leo Valdez: -that you're to slow.**

**Valdez!**

**Leo Valdez: Hahahahahahahahahahaha**

Jason took the book from Artemis and sat down in between Leo and Hestia, with the hearth and P-Leo on Hestia's left, and Piper, Frank, and Hazel on Leo's right.

**"How did he die?" Leo asked. "I mean Beckendorf."**

Percy cringed. Leo winced too. "Sorry, man. I didn't know we would be reading this out.

Percy smiled at him sadly. "Thanks."

**Will Solace trudged ahead. "Explosion. Beckendorf and Percy Jackson blew up a cruise ship full of monsters. Beckendorf didn't make it out."**

**There was that name again - Percy Jackson, Annabeth's missing boyfriend.**

**That guy must've been into everything around here, Leo thought.**

"Kind of." Poseidon said to Jason.

Jason smiled. "I know. Trust me, I know."

**"So Beckendorf was pretty popular?" Leo asked. "I mean - before he blew up?"**

**"He was awesome," Will agreed. "It was hard on the whole camp when he died. Jake - he became head counselor in the middle of the war. Same as I did, actually. Jake did his best, but he never wanted to be leader. **

Jake frowned. "Hopefully they get a new counselor soon."

Leo smiled. "We do, don't worry."

**He just likes building stuff. Then after the war, things started to go wrong. Cabin Nine's chariots blew up. Their automatons went haywire. Their inventions started to malfunction. It was like a curse, and eventually people started calling it that - the Curse of Cabin Nine. Then Jake had his accident -"**

Jake flinched. Then he frowned. "How come I didn't feel pain when leo met me?"

Leo shrugged. "Maybe it's only for the seven."

"You three are in the prophecy?" Zeus asked them.

They nodded, and Hazel spoke up. "The seven are Percy-"

"Can't I ever catch a break?!"

"No, you cant. Where was I, oh yeah, Annabeth-"

"Me?"

"-Leo-"

"I'm important?"

"-Piper, Jason, Frank, and me."

**"Which had something to do with the problem he mentioned," Leo guessed.**

**"They're working on it," Will said without enthusiasm. "And here we are."**

**The forge looked like a steam-powered locomotive had smashed into the Greek Parthenon and they had fused together. **

Travis looked at the Leos. "You have weird descriptions."

Leo winked at him. "I know."

**White marble columns lined the soot-stained walls. Chimneys pumped smoke over an elaborate gable carved with a bunch of gods and monsters. The building sat at the edge of the a stream, with several water wheels turning a series of bronze gears. Leo heard machinery grinding inside, fires roaring, and hammers ringing on anvils.**

**They stepped through the doorway, and a dozen guys and girls who'd been working on various projects all froze. The noise died down to the roar of the forge and the **_**click-click-click **_**of gears and levers.**

"Awkward…" Will murmured.

**"'Sup guys," Will said. "This is your new brother, Leo - um, what's your last name?"**

"You didn't ask his last name 'till then?" F-Percy asked Will.

He blushed. "I guess not…"

**"Valdez." Leo looked around at the other campers. Was he really related to all of them? His cousins came from some big families, but he'd always just had his mom - until she died.**

"She died? How?" Percy asked the Leos. They both visibly flinched, and Percy realized that was a very, very, _very _inappropriate question. His eyes widened, and he rushed to apologize. "Oh my gods! That was a horrible question! Oh my gods, I am so sorry. Oh gods, that was so rude…"

Leo smiled, but it looked more like a grimace. "No big deal. It was an accident." Jason hurried to keep reading.

**Kids came up and started shaking hands introducing themselves. Their names blurred together: Shane, Christopher, Nyssa, Harley (yeah, like the motorcycle). Leo knew he'd never keep everybody straight. Too many of them. Too overwhelming.**

"I got it now." He said smiling at his future cabin. Almost everyone seemed convinced that he was back to his normal cheerfulness level, but Hestia saw the tightness in his arms and neck, the way the smile dropped the instant everyone looked away, and how his eyes lacked their usual sparkle. She frowned. _What has this boy gone through during the war?_ Then she saw P-Leo, and noticed the same things. _Correction, what has this boy been through during _life_?_

**None of them looked like the others - all different face types, skin tone, hair color, height. You'd never think, **_**Hey, look, it's the Hephaestus bunch! **_**But they all had powerful hands, rough with callused and stained with engine grease. Even little Harley, who couldn't have been more than eight, looked like he could go six rounds with Chuck Norris without breaking a sweat.**

"That might be an exaggeration." Hephaestus said to his fire-wielding son.

**And all the kids shared a sad kind of seriousness. Their shoulders slumped like life had been beaten them pretty hard.**

**Several looked like they'd been physically beaten up, too. Leo counted two arm slings, on pair of crutches, an eyes patch, six Ace bandages, and about seven thousand Band-Aids.**

Everyone frowned.

**"Well, all right!" Leo said. "I hear this is the party cabin!"**

**Nobody laughed. They all just stared at him.**

"'Cause it was horrible joke." Frank said to Leo.

Leo acted like Frank had shot him, pressing a hand to his chest. "I am injured! It was an amazing joke!"

**Will Solace patted Leo's shoulder. "I'll leave you guys to get acquainted. Somebody show Leo to dinner when it's time?"**

**"I got it," one of the girls said. Nyssa, Leo remembered. She wore camo pants, a tank top that showed off her buff arms, and a red bandanna over a mop of dark hair. Except for the smiley-face Band-Aid on her chin, she looked like one of those female action heroes, like any second she was going to grab a machine gun and start mowing down evil aliens.**

Nyssa raised an eyebrow at her half brother. He smiled. "You probably would!"

She sighed. Frank looked at her. "He doesn't get any less annoying." She frowned.

**"Cool," Leo said. "I always wanted a sister who could beat me up."**

Nyssa stared at him. "Seriously?"

**Nyssa didn't smile. "Come on, joker boy. I'll show you around."**

**Leo was no stranger to workshops. He'd grown up around grease monkeys and power tools. His mom used to joke his first pacifier was a lug wrench. But he'd never seen any place like the camp forge.**

"Nope." He said, popping the _p. _"Other than the woods."

The campers looked at him, confused. "What is so important about the woods?" Nico asked.

Leo smiled. "It is only the center of everything nine-wise these days."

"What?" Nico asked, extremely confused.

Leo laughed. "You'll find out in a couple chapters or so."

**One guy was working on a battle-ax. He kept testing the blade on a slab of concrete. Each time he swung, the ax cut into the slab like it was warm cheese, but the guy looked unsatisfied and went back to honing the edge.**

**"What's he planning to kill with that thing?" Leo asked Nyssa. "A battleship?"**

**"You never know. Even with Celestial bronze -"**

**"That's the metal?"**

**She nodded. "Mined from Mount Olympus itself. Extremely rare. Anyway, it usually disintegrates monster on contact, but big powerful ones have notoriously tough hides. Drakons, for instances -"**

**"You mean dragons?"**

Clarisse frowned. "She meant drakons."

**"Similar species. You'll learn the differences in monster fighting class."**

**"Monster-fighting class. Yeah, I already got my black belt in that."**

Leo frowned. _Nope,_ he thought. _Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Thalia, Nico, Reyna, and many, many other have black belts. I barely have a white belt._

**She didn't crack a smile. Leo hoped she wasn't this serious all the time. His dad's side of the family had to have **_**some **_**sense of humor, right? They passed a couple of guys making a bronze windup toy. At least that's what it looked like. It was a six-inch-tall centaur - half man, half horse - armed with a miniature bow.**

**One of the campers cranked the centaur's tail, and it whirred to life. It galloped across the table, yelling, "Die, mosquito! Die, mosquito!" and shooting everything in sight. Apparently this had happened before, because everybody knew to hit the floor except Leo. Six needle-sized arrows embedded themselves in his shirt before a camper grabbed a hammer and smashed the centaur to pieces.**

"Ow." Hazel said. "That sounds painful."

"It was." Leo replied, subconsciously rubbing his chest.

**"Stupid curse!" The camper waved his hammer at the sky. "I just want a magic bug killer! It that too much to ask?"**

**"Ouch," Leo said.**

**Nyssa pulled the needles out of his shirt. "Ah, you're fine. Let's move on before they rebuild it."**

**Leo rubbed his chest as they walked. "That sort of thing happen a lot?"**

**"Lately," Nyssa said, "everything we build turns to junk."**

"The curse?" Thalia asked. Jason smirked as he read the next sentence.

**"The curse?"**

Nico stifled a giggle at Thalia's expression.

**Nyssa frowned. "I don't believe in curses. But something's wrong. And if we don't figure out the dragon problem, it's gonna get even worse."**

**"The dragon problem?" Leo hoped she was talking about a miniature dragon, maybe one that killed cockroaches, but he got the feeling he wasn't going to be so lucky.**

"Yeah, cockroach killing mini dragon. That's what it is." Leo sarcastically told the book.

Percy looked at him. "You do know you're talking to a book right?" He asked him.

Leo looked at him blankly. "Yeah. So?"

**Nyssa took him over to a big wall map that a couple of girls were studying. The map showed the camp - a semicircle of land with Long Island Sound on the north shore, the woods to the west, the cabins to the east, and a ring of hills to the south.**

**"It's got to be in the hills," the first girl said.**

**"We **_**looked **_**in the hills," the second argued. "The woods are a better hiding place."**

**"But we already set traps -"**

**"Hold up," Leo said. "You guys lost a dragon? A **_**real **_**full sized dragon?"**

**"It's a bronze dragon," Nyssa said. **

Percy and Annabeth paled.

**"But yes, it's a life-size automation. Hephaestus cabin built it years ago. Then it was lost in the woods until a few summers back, when Beckendorf found it in pieces and rebuilt it. It's been helping protect the camp, but, um, it's a little unpredictable."**

**"Unpredictable," Leo said.**

"That sounds bad," Ares said. "Yes!"

"Come on, Ares," Aphrodite said. "I'm sure it's not so bad."

**"It goes haywire and smashes down cabins, sets people on fire, tried to eat the satyrs."**

"Or not." Aphrodite finished.

"Tries to eat the satyrs!" Grover shouted. "That thing need to be destroyed!"  
>Hades frowned. "That thing is bound to have killed people."<p>

Nyssa frowned too. "That sounds unfixable. We would have to kill it."

Leo was furious. "Hey! It said tried! I know for a fact it hasn't killed any satyrs or destroyed any cabins too bad. And nobody died. The Hephaestus may not have been able to fix it, but the y dai d a great job of minimizing the damage." Everyone was surprised by Leo outburst, except maybe the futures and Hephaestus. Hephaestus actually hid a smile at his son's love for machines.

**"That's pretty unpredictable."**

**Nyssa nodded. "Beckendorf was the only one who could control it. Then he died, and the dragon just got worse and control it. Then he died, and the dragon just got worse and worse. Finally it went berserk and ran off. Occasionally it shows up, demolishes something, and runs away again. **

"See!" Leo said. "It just breaks something and leaves. Nothing major."

**Everyone expects us to find it and destroy it -"**

"**Destroy it?" Leo was appalled. "You've got a life-size bronze dragon, and you want to **_**destroy **_**it?"**

**"It breathes fire," Nyssa explained. "It's deadly and out of control."**

**"But it's a dragon! Dude, that's so awesome. Can't you try talking to it, controlling it?"**

**"We tried. Jake Mason tried. You saw how well that worked."**

Jake flinched. "So that's how it happened…"

**Leo thought about Jake, wrapped in a body case, lying alone on his bunk. "Still -"**

**"There's no other option." Nyssa turned to the other girls. "Let's try more traps in the woods - here, here, and here. Bait them with thirty-weight motor oil."**

**"The dragon drinks that?" Leo asked.**

**"Yeah." Nyssa sighed regretfully. "He used to like it with a little Tabasco sauce, right before bed."**

"Cause that's not weird at all." Frank said.

**"It he spring a trap, we can come in with acid sprayers - should melt through his hide. Then we get metal cutters and... finish the job."**

"That sounds more like murder the shutting down a machine." Jake said.

Leo looked at him in a mixture of agreement and disgust. "It's not just a machine! Fes- I mean, the dragon is an intelligent being that is very advanced. It does not deserve to be 'killed!'"

**They all looked sad. Leo realized they didn't want to kill the dragon any more than he did.**

**"Guys," he said. "There has to be another way."**

**"Like what?" one asked. "The breathes fire. We can't even get close."**

**Fire, Leo thought. Oh man, the things he could tell them about fire...But he had to be careful, even if these were his brothers and sisters. **_**Especially **_**if he had to live with them. **

"Leo.." Annabeth asked Leo hesitantly. "What are you talking about?" He shrugged, but P-Leo looked close to panicking.

**"Well..." He hesitated. "Hephaestus is the god of fire, right? So don't any of you have like fire resistance or something?"**

Annabeth gasped. "You mean…" She looked at her mother and Hephaestus for confirmation. Athena sent her a quick nod, and Annabeth looked worried. "Sometimes I hate being right."

**Nobody acted as if it was a crazy question, which was a relief, but Nyssa shook her gravely. "That's a Cyclops ability, Leo. Demigod children of Hephaestus... we're just good with our hands. We're builders, craftsmen, weapon smiths- stuff like that."**

**Leo's shoulders slumped. "Oh."**

P-Leo looked close to hyperventilating, so Hestia put a hand on his shoulder. She then spoke to him via minds. _You are important to the prophecy. It even sounds like everyone respects you. Percy Jackson, the savior of olympus, responds to your command._

He frowned. _They probably just fear I'll get mad and burst into flame, just like the last time._ She frowned. Then she looked into his future mind and realized that he would always be afraid of his powers, but he would no longer fear using it to save his friends or being left out. She smiled. He would find his way, even if it took years.

**A guy in back said, "Well, a **_**long**_ **time ago-"**

"**Yeah, okay," Nyssa conceded. "A long time ago some children of Hephaestus were born with the power over fire. But that ability was very, very rare. And always dangerous. **

Both Leos bit their lip.

**No demigod like that has been born in centuries. The last one..." She looked at one of the other kids for help.**

**"Sixteen sixty-six," the girl offered. "Guy named Thomas Faynor. He started the Great Fire of London, destroyed most of the city."**

P-Leo looked down, and Leo looked at the book with an angry glare. _Why do I have to hear this again? _Leo thought. _I feel so bare, stripped down. This would be so much better if Calypso was here._

**"Right," Nyssa said. "When a child of Hephaestus like that appears, it usually means something catastrophic is about to happen. And we don't need any more catastrophes."**

"No," Nyssa murmured. "We don't."

**Leo tried to keep his face clear of emotion, which wasn't his strong suit. "I guess I see your point. Too bad, though. If you could resist flames, you could get close to the dragon."**

**"Then it would kill you with its claws and fangs," Nyssa said. "Or simply step on you. No, we've got to destroy it. Trust me, if anyone could figure out another answer..."**

**She didn't finish, but Leo got the message. This was the cabin's big test. If they do something only Beckendorf could do, if they could subdue the dragon without killing it, then maybe their curse would be lifted. But they were stumped for ideas. Any camper who figured out how would be a hero.**

"Not so much." Leo murmured to himself.

Unfortunately, Piper heard him. She stared at him in shock. "You don't consider yourself a hero?" She asked him softly.

He looked at her. "Why would I? The only thing I've been is a hassle. I couldn't save Festus during our first quest, I fired on New Rome-"

"That was an eidolon!"

"I was weak enough to be possessed, then. Also, the reason Annabeth and Percy fell into Tartarus was my deal with Nemesis. I wasn't even strong enough to survive at the end of the war."

Piper was shocked. Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, fire-user, Supreme Commander of the Argo II, didn't consider himself important in the Second Giant War. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Jason continue reading.

**A conch horn blew in the distance. Campers started putting up their tools and projects.**

**Leo hadn't realized it was getting so late, but he looked through the windows and saw the sun going down. His ADHD did that to him sometimes. If he was bored, a fifty minute class seemed like six hours. If he was interested in something, like touring a demigod camp, hours slipped away and bam- the day was over.**

"We all feel that way." Percy murmured.  
>Frank frowned. "I don't have ADHD."<p>

"Dyslexia, then?"

"Only lactose intolerance." Percy coughed.

**"Dinner," Nyssa said. "Come on, Leo."**

**"Up at the pavilion, right?" he asked.**

**She nodded. **

**"You guys go ahead," Leo said. "Can you... give me a second?"**

"What is he going to do?" Hazel whispered herself.

**Nyssa hesitated. Then her expression softened. "Sure. It's a lot to process. I remember my first day. Come up when you're ready. Just don't touch anything. Almost every project in here can kill you if you're not careful."**

**"No touching," Leo promised.**

**His cabin mates filed out of the forge. Soon Leo was alone with the sounds of the bellows, the waterwheels, and small machines clicking and whirring.**

**He stared at the map of camp- the locations where his newfound siblings were going to put traps to catch a dragon. It was wrong. Plain wrong.**

"Imagine if Leo had actually listened to authority." F-Annabeth said.

Piper spoke first. "We would have not made the deadline-"

"What deadline?" Hermes asked her.

She ignored him and continued. "-we wouldn't have found the important thing in the woods-"

"What important thing in the woods?!" Nico almost screamed.

"-we wouldn't have a ship to get Percy-"

"From where?" Annabeth asked.

"-and we all would've died, over and over and over again." She finished. Leo still felt inferior and unimportant, but P-Leo looked shocked about all the important things he was part of.

**Very rare, he thought. And always dangerous.**

"Why does he keep coming back to that?" Thalia asked.

**He held out his hand and studied his fingers. They were long and thin, not callused like the other Hephaestus campers'. Leo had never been the biggest or the strongest kid.**

"Still isn't" He said.

**He'd survive in tough neighborhoods, tough schools, tough foster homes by using his wit. He was the class clown, the court jester, because he'd learned early that if you cracked jokes and pretended you weren't scared, you usually didn't get beat up.**

"Usually?" Apollo said.

Both Leos winced. "Usually." Piper and Jason were shocked they didn't know what had happened to their best friend.

**Even the baddest gangster kids would tolerate you, keep you around for laughs. Plus, humor was a good way to hide the pain. **

Leo looked down, and everyone was shocked. All the campers were asking themselves two questions. _What is Leo's hidden, personal past? And is it better or worse than mine?_

**And if that didn't work, there was always Plan B. Run away. Over and over.**

_Six foster homes, _everyone remembered. They looked at them. The younger one was crouched, with Hestia's hand on his shoulder, his head in his hands. The older one, however, was looking through one of the holes in the wall **(Remember, this is **_**right **_**after the war*)** a serious look on his face, eyes dry, with pursed lips and clenched hands. Everyone was shocked by how one paragraph could change someone's view of someone else so much. Hephaestus swore he would find out what his son had gone through and try and make it easier on him.

**There was Plan C, but he'd promised himself never to use it again.**

P-Leo gasped quietly, and Annabeth asked, "What's Plan C?"

Leo looked at Jason. He smiled, trying to look happy-go-lucky again, but the humor was dulled in his eye. "Why don't you continue reading."

**He felt the urge to try it now- something he hadn't done since the accident, since his mom's death. **

The Leos flinched again.

**He extended his fingers and felt them tingle, like they were waking up- pins and needles. Then flames flickered to life, curls of red-hot fire dancing across his palm. **

A moment passed, then, pandemonium.

"You can control fire?!" (Percy, Nico, and Thalia [plus a couple others])

"Sorry for saying it was dangerous." (Nyssa)

"Don't worry, it is." (Leo)

"I knew it!" (Annabeth)

"You used it?" (P-Leo)

"We told you not to give that gift anymore!" (Directed to Hephaestus, sent from pretty much all the olympians [not Hestia (understood), Hera (also understood), or Dionysus (doesn't care)])

"Wha…zzz...zzz..." (Clovis)

"What happened to your mom?" (Hazel, but quiet enough no one heard it.)

"Enough!" Zeus roared. "I'm sure this is true. Could you show us?" He directed the last question at Leo.

He nodded. He reached out a hand and concentrated. A small ball of fire appeared on his hand. "Cool!" Travis and Connor exclaimed.

Leo smiled. He extinguished the fire and turned to Jason. "Read."

"Actually," Jason said. "That's the end of the chapter."

Nico spoke up. "I'll read."

They were interrupted by a flash of light.

**Who should it be?**

**Nico? (And Will?)**

**Thalia**

**Coach Hedge?**

**Reyna?**

**Calypso?**

**Future Gods?**

**Past Romans?**

**Thanks**

**DOA999**


	10. How Is a Blue Barn Threatening?

**This extremely late. *dodges everything being thrown at me* I am super, **

**super, **

**super, **

**super, **

**super, **

**super, **

**super, **

**super late. And I apologize.**

**Sorry.**

**Also, just in case anyone is confused, P-_is before the Titan war, _ is before the Giant War, and F-_ is after the Giant War (exceptions are Leo, who has no _ counterpart; and Jason, Piper, Frank, and Hazel, who have no counterparts at all.**

**Disclaimer: I own all of it! *glances around nervously* I swear! **

**Someone in the audience: No you don't! *throws tomato***

**Me: Oh no! They're on to us! *They know Rick Riordan actually owns all the names and Bold text! They know we only own the general plot!**

The light faded, and standing there were two people. One girl and one guy. The girl was around fifteen, with black skinny jeans and a black t-shirt, with short black hair. She was holding a bow, and had a quiver and daggers strapped to her thighs. She was wearing an unzipped silver parka and silver boots. She had a silver crown-tiara-thing on wrapped around her head. The boy was around fourteen with a black aviator's jacket and black jeans. He had black hair and was pale as death. His eyes looked like he had been broken, over and over, but also looked as though recently someone had been willing to pick up the pieces.

The futures smiled. "Thalia! Nico!" F-Percy gave them a hug.

Annabeth looked at them. "You know what's going on, right?"

Thalia smiled. "There is a room in a pocket dimension where everyone who is important in this story is watching you."

Leo looked at her. "Way to make yourself sound like a stalker."

Nico, sensing Thalia getting pissed, continued to read.

**As soon as Jason saw the house, he knew he was a dead man.**

"Why?" F-Nico asked.

**"Here we are!" Drew said cheerfully.**

**"The Big House, camp headquarters."**

**It didn't look threatening, just a four-story manor painted baby blue with white trim. The wraparound porch had lounge chairs, a card table, and an empty wheelchair. Wind chimes shaped like nymphs turned into trees as the spun. Jason could imagine old people coming here for summer vacation, sitting on the porch and sipping prune juice while they watching the sunset.**

"How does that feel threatening?" Apollo asked.

Jason shrugged. "It just did."

**Still, the windows seemed to glare down at him like angry eyes. The wide-open doorway looked ready to swallow him. On the highest gable, a bronze eagle weathervane spun in the wind and pointed straight in his direction, as if telling him to turn around.**

**Every molecule in Jason's body told him he was on enemy ground.**

"Course he did." F-Percy said. "I felt the same way."

Annabeth looked at him, confused. "You felt threatened at camp?"

F-Percy looked at her. "No, not at the Big House. Somewhere else." She was going to ask where, if not camp, but he motioned for Nico to keep reading.

**"I am **_**not **_**supposed to be here," he said.**

**Drew circled her arm through his. "Oh, please. You're **_**perfect **_**here, sweetie."**

**Drew smelled like Christmas - a strange combination of pine and nutmeg.**

**Jason wondered if she always smelled like that, or if it was some kind of special perfume for the holidays.**

Piper clenched her jaw.

**Her pink eyeliner was really distracting. Every time she blinked, he felt compelled to look at her. Maybe that was the point, to show off her warm brown eyes. She was pretty. No doubt about that. **

Drew smiled a victorious smile and Piper's eye twitched. "What?"

Jason paled. "Read Nico!"

**But she made Jason feel uncomfortable.**

Piper breathed a sigh of relief, and the smiled melted of Drew's face.

**He slipped his arm away as gently as he could. "Look, I appreciate -"**

**"Is it that girl?" Drew pouted. "Oh, please, tell me you are **_**not **_**dating the Dumpster Queen."**

**"You mean, Piper? Um.."**

**Jason wasn't sure how to answer. He didn't think he'd ever seen Piper before today, but he felt strangely guilty about it. He knew he shouldn't be in this place. He shouldn't befriend these people, and certainly he shouldn't date one of them. **

Piper bit her lip and looked down. Jason pressed a kiss to her head.

**Still... Piper had been holding his hand when he woke up on that bus. She believed she was his girlfriend. She'd been brave on the skywalk, fighting those venti, and when Jason had caught her midair and they'd held each other face-to-face, he couldn't pretend he wasn't a little tempted to kiss her.**

They blushed and Aphrodite squealed a tiny bit.

**But that wasn't right. He didn't even know his own story. He couldn't play with her emotions like that.**

**Drew rolled her eyes. "Let me help you decide, sweetie. You can do better. A guy with your looks and obvious talent?"**

Leo, bored out of his mind, reached into his belt and took out a small screwdriver and a stopwatch. He proceeded to fiddle with the tiny screws and wires.

**She wasn't looking at him, though. She was staring at a spot right above his head.**

**"You're waiting for a sign," He guessed. "Like what popped over Leo's head."**

**"What? No! Well... yes. I mean, from what I heard, you're pretty powerful right? You're going to be important at camp, so I figure your parent will claim you right away. And I'd live to see that. I wanna be with you every step of the way! So is your dad or mom the god? Please tell me it's not your mom. I would hate it if you were an Aphrodite kid."**

"He has amnesia." P-Leo said. "How would he know?"

**"Why?"**

**"Then you'd be my half brother, silly. You can't date somebody from your own cabin. Yuck!"**

**"But aren't all the gods related?" Jason asked. "So isn't everyone here your cousin or something?"**

"Ichor doesn't have DNA." Annabeth said, like, _duh_.

**"Aren't you cute! Sweetie, the godly side of your family doesn't count except for your parent. So anybody from another cabin - they're fair game. So who's your godly parent - mom or dad?"**

"He still has amnesia."

**As usual, Jason didn't have an answer. He looked up, but no glowing sign popped above his head. At the top of the Big House, the weathervane was still pointing his direction, that bronze eagle glaring as if to say, **_**Turn around, kid, while you still can**_**.**

Apollo frowned. "Creepy," he whispered.

**Then he heard footsteps on the front porch. No - not footsteps - **_**hooves**_**.**

"Chiron." Percy said.

**"Chiron!" Drew called. "This is Jason. He's totally awesome!"**

**Jason backed up so fast he almost tripped. Rounding the corner of the porch was a man on horseback. Except he wasn't on horseback - he was part of the horse.**

**From the waist up he was human, with curly brown hair and well-trimmed beard. He wore a T-shirt that said **_**World's Best Centaur,**_

"I got him that!" Travis randomly called out.

**and had a quiver and bow strapped to his back. His head was so high up he had to duck to avoid the porch lights, because from the waist down, he was a white stallion.**

**Chiron started to smile at Jason. Then the color drained from his face.**

**"You..." The centaur's eyes flared like a cornered animal's. "You should be dead."**

Annabeth frowned. "Why did he say that?" She asked the futures.

They shrugged, but she noticed that none of them looked her in the eye.

**Chiron ordered Jason - well, **_**invited**_**, but it sounded like an order - to come inside the house. He told Drew to go back to her cabin, which Drew didn't look happy about.**

"Course she wasn't," Leo said with a joking smile. "She had to leave Mr. Golden Boy."

Jason frowned. "Don't call me that."

Leo smiled. "Now why would do that?"

"Because I asked you to?"

"Rhetorical question, Sparky."

**The centaur trotted over to the empty wheelchair on the porch. He slipped off his quiver and bow and backed up to the chair, which opened like a magician's box. Chiron gingerly stepped into it with his back legs and began scrunching himself into a space that should've been much too small. Jason imagined a truck's reversing noises - **_**beep, beep, beep **_**- as the centaur's lower half disappeared and the chair folded up, **

Leo and the Percys looked at Jason. "You have weird thoughts." They said in complete unison.

Everyone else looked at them. Artemis frowned. "That's creepy."

**popping out of a set of fake human legs covered in a blanket, so Chiron appeared to be a regular mortal guy in a wheelchair.**

**"Follow me," he ordered. "We have lemonade."**

Percy smirked. Suddenly, him, his future self, and the Stolls spoke (once again in complete unison) "Come to the dark side. We have lemonade."

Everyone looked at them again. "You're right." Hermes said to Artemis. "That _is _creepy."

**The living room looked like it had been swallowed by a rain forest. Grapevines curved up the walls and across the ceiling, which Jason found a little strange.**

Dionysus frowned. "That's not strange, Jacob. That's normal."

**He didn't think plants grew like that inside, especially in the winter, but these were leafy green and bursting with bunches or red grapes.**

**Leather couches faced a stone fireplace with a crackling fire. Wedged in one corner, and old-style Pac-Man arcade game beeped and blinked. Mounted on the walls was an assortment of masks - smiley/frowny Greek theater types, feathered Mardi Gras masks, Venetian Carnival masks with big beaklike noses, carved wooden masks from Africa. Grapevines grew through their mouths so they seemed to have leafy tongues. Some had red grapes bulging through their eyeholes.**

Frank frowned. "You have a weird headquarters."

F-Percy smiled. "Definitely different from your HQ, isn't it?"

Frank nodded. "Definitely."

Annabeth heard their conversation. "What's your HQ?" She asked.

They both jumped. "Spoilers?"

She frowned, but didn't push it.

**But the weirdest thing was the stuffed leopard's head above the fireplace. It looked so real, its eyes seemed to follow Jason. Then it snarled, and Jason nearly leaped out of his skin.**

The Romans' eyes widened, and the campers smiled. "Seymour."

**"Now, Seymour," Chiron chided. "Jason is a friend. Behave yourself."**

**"That thing is alive!" Jason said.**

**Chiron rummaged through the side pocket of his wheelchair and brought out a package of Snausages. He threw one to the leopard, who snapped it up and licked his lips.**

Frank raised an eyebrow.

**"You must excuse the décor," Chiron said. "All this was a parting gift from our old director before he was recalled to Mount Olympus. **

"I was recalled!" Dionysus did another little happy dance. The romans were confused. Was this how the Greek gods always acted? Dionysus sat back down, and picked up a wine magazine. "Keep reading

**He thought it would help us to remember him. Mr. D has a strange sense of humor."**

**"Mr. D," Jason said. "Dionysus?"**

**"Mmm hmm." Chiron poured lemonade, though his hands were trembling a little. **

Annabeth frowned. "Why is he so nervous?"

Leo sighed. "Spoilers!"

**"As for Seymour, well, Mr. D liberated him from a Long Island garage sale. The leopard is Mr. D's sacred animal, you see, and Mr. D was appalled that someone would stuff such a noble creature. He decided to grant it life, on the assumption that life as a mounted head was better than no life at all. I must say it's a kinder fate than Seymour's previous owner got."**

Dionysus growled. "He better have!"

**Seymour bared his fangs and sniffed the air, as if hunting for more Snausages.**

**"If he'd only a head," Jason said, "where does the food go when he eats?"**

"Better not to ask." Percy said.

**"Better not to ask," Chiron said. "Please, sit."**

Everyone laughed, but Percy was happy to have something in common with the wise and kind old centaur.

**Jason took some lemonade, though his stomach was fluttering. Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and tried for a smile, but Jason could tell it was forced. The old man's eyes were as deep and dark as wells.**

**"So, Jason," he said, "would you mind telling me - ah - where you're from?"**

"He doesn't know." F-Thalia said softly.

**"I wish I knew." Jason told him the whole story, from walking up on the bus to crash-landing at Camp Half-Blood. he didn't see any point in hiding the details, and Chiron was a good listener. He didn't react to the story, other than to nod encouragingly for more.**

**When Jason was done, the old man sipped his lemonade.**

**"I see," Chiron said. "And you must have questions for me."**

**"Only one," Jason admitted. "What did you mean when you said that I should be dead?"**

"That's what we want to know." Athena and Annabeth said in unison. Athena smiled at her daughter, and she slowly smiled back at her mother.

**Chiron studied him with concern, as if he expected Jason to burst into flames. "My boy, do you know what those marks on your arm mean? The color of your shirt? Do you remember anything?"**

The gods were nervous again. Is this the story of another world war? Because nothing else of importance has been mentioned. But what happened to Piper's dad? And who's Tia Callida (only some thought this)? And if it is, why are the romans and greeks in the group acting like old friends?

**Jason looked at the tattoo on his forearm: SPQR, the eagle, twelve straight lines. "No," he said. "Nothing."**

**"Do you know where you are?" Chiron asked. "Do you understand what this place is, and who I am?"**

**"You're Chiron the centaur," Jason said. "I'm guessing you're the same one from the old stories, who used to train the greek heroes like Heracles. This is a camp for demigods, children of the Olympian gods."**

"How does he know this!?" Annabeth screamed. The Stolls giggled. She glared at them, and they promptly shut up.

**"So you believe those gods still exist?"**

**"Yes," Jason said immediately. "I mean, I don't think we should **_**worship **_**them or sacrifice chickens to them or anything, **

"That would be awesome."

"Shut up Apollo."

**but they're still around because they're a powerful part of civilization. They move from country to country as the center of power shifts - like they moved from Ancient Greece to Rome."**

**"**_**I couldn't have said it better.**_**" Something about Chiron's voice had changed.**

"What?!" Annabeth was frustrated.

**"**_**So you already know the gods are real. You have already been claimed, haven't you?**_**"**

**"**_**Maybe**_**," Jason answered. "**_**I'm not really sure**_**." Seymour the leopard snarled.**

**Chiron waited, and Jason realized what had just happened. The centaur had switched to another language and Jason had understood, automatically answering in the same tongue.**

Annabeth gasped. "What language!?"

The futures smiled evilly. Everyone shivered (including Hades).

**"**_**Quis erat**_ **-" Jason faltered, then made a conscious effort to speak English. "What was that?"**

**"You know Latin," Chiron observed. "Most demigods recognize a few phrases, of course. It's in their blood, but not as much as Ancient Greek. None can speak Latin fluently without practice."**

Annabeth screamed and grabbed her hair. "I hate not knowing things!"

Percy rubbed her head. "Calm down." She relaxed under his touch, and F-Percy and Annabeth smiled.

**Jason tried to wrap his mind around what that meant, but too many pieces were missing from his memory. He still had the feeling that he shouldn't be here. It was wrong - and dangerous. But at least Chiron wasn't threatening. In fact the centaur seemed concerned for him, afraid for his safety.**

"He cares for everyone." Chris said. "That's why we care about him so much."

**The fire reflected in Chiron's eyes, making them dance fretfully. "I taught your namesake, you know, the original Jason. He had a hard path. I've seen many heroes come and go. Occasionally, they have happy endings. Mostly, they don't. It breaks my heart, like losing a child each time one of my pupils dies. But you - you are not like any pupil I've ever taught. Your presence here could be a disaster."**

"How?" Annabeth wined. Percy frowned. She must have really wanted to know if she was starting to beg and wine.

The futures, however, didn't respond.

**"Thanks," Jason said. "You must be an inspiring teacher."**

Percy tapped his chin. "He actually is." He said. "You just need to read between the lines."

**"I am sorry, my boy. But it's true. I had hoped that after Percy's success -"**

**"Percy Jackson, you mean. Annabeth's boyfriend, the one who's missing."**

**Chiron nodded. "I hoped that after he succeeded in the Titan War and saved Mount Olympus, we might have some peace. I might be able to enjoy one final triumph, a happy ending, and perhaps retire quietly. I should have known better. The last chapter approaches, just as it did before. The worst is yet to come."**

"Worse than the Titan War?" Katie asked quietly.

The futures' faces went either blank or sad, and most looked at the ground. F-Percy looked directly at them, however. "Worse." He spoke just as softly. "Much worse."

**In the corner, the arcade game made a sad **_**pew - pew - pew - pew **_**sound, like a Pac-Mac had just died.**

**"Ohh-key," Jason said. "So - last chapter, happened before, worst yet to come. Sounds fun, but can we go back to the part where I'm supposed to be dead? I don't like that part."**

**"I'm afraid I can't explain, my boy. I swore on the River Styx and on all things sacred that I would never..."**

Annabeth looked tortured. "What is so important?"

**Chiron frowned. "But you're here, in violation of the same oath. That too, should not be possible. I don't understand. Who would've done such a thing? Who -"**

**Seymour the leopard howled. His mouth froze, half open. The arcade game stopped beeping. The fire stopped crackling, its flames hardening like red glass. The masks stared down silently at Jason with their grotesque grade eyes and leafy tongues.**

Will shivered. "Creepy."

**"Chiron?" Jason asked. "What's going -"**

**The old centaur had frozen, too. Jason jumped off the couch, but Chiron kept staring at the same spot, his mouth open mid-sentence. His eyes didn't blink. His chest didn't move.**

Leo frowned. "You didn't tell us in this much detail, Jason."

Piper nodded, agreeing with Leo. "You told us time stopped and she talked about patrons and prisons. What else did she say?"

_**Jason**_**, a voice said.**

**For a horrible moment, he thought the leopard had spoken. Then dark mist boiled out of Seymour's mouth, and an even worse thought occurred to Jason **_**storm spirits**_**.**

"Schist." Nico said.

Hazel sighed. "Why are we using that as a swear, again?"

"You got kidnapped by wheat." F-Percy and Frank said.

Hazel nodded. "Okay then."

Everyone looked at them like they were crazy. Nico asked them, "Did youn just sayd kidnapped by wheat?"

They nodded. "Yep."

**He grabbed the golden coin from his pocket. With a quick flip, it changed into a sword.**

**The mist took the form of a woman in black robes. Her face was hooded, but her eyes glowed in the darkness. Over her shoulders she wore a goatskin cloak. Jason wasn't sure how he knew it was goatskin, but he recognized it and knew it was important.**

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

_**Would you attack your patron?**_ **the woman chided. Her voice echoed in Jason's head. **_**Lower your sword.**_

**"Who are you?" He demanded. "How did you -"**

_**Our time is limited, Jason. My prison grows stronger by the hour. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to work even the smallest magic through its bonds. I've managed to bring you here, but now I have little time left, and even less power. This may be the last time I can speak to you.**_

**"You're in prison?" Jason decided maybe he wouldn't lower his sword. "Look, I don't know you, and your not my patron."**

_**You know me, **_**she insisted. **_**I have known you since your birth.**_

"What?" Annabeth asked. "I hate not knowing things. I'm starting to feel like Seaweed Brain."

"Thanks." Percy said. "Wait - What?!"

**"I don't remember. I don't remember anything."**

_**No, you don't,**_ **she agreed. **_**That also was necessary. Long ago, your father gave me your life as a gift to placate my anger. He named you Jason, after my favorite mortal. You belong to me.**_

**"Whoa," Jason said. "I don't belong to anyone."**

_**Now is the time to pay your debt**_**, she said. **_**Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory.**_

**"Is that a threat? You **_**took **_**my memories?"**

Hestia frowned. Hera was playing dangerous game.

_**You have until sunset on the solstice, Jason. Four short days. Do not fail me.**_

**The dark woman dissolved, and the mist curled into the leopard's mouth.**

**Time unfroze. Seymour's howl turned into a cough like he'd sucked in a hairball. The fire crackled to life, the arcade machine beeped, and Chiron said, "- would dare to bring you here?"**

"Probably the lady in the mist," Jason offered.

**"Probably the lady in the mist," Jason offered.**

Jason smiled sheepishly.

**Chiron looked up in surprise. "Weren't you just sitting... why do you have a sword drawn?"**

"The lady in the mist, probably." Leo said sarcastically.

P-Leo looked at him. "Shut up, me."

Leo looked hurt. "I'm hurt! I really am!"

**"I hate to tell you this," Jason said, "but I think your leopard just ate a goddess." He told Chiron about the frozen-in-time visit, the dark misty figure that disappeared into Seymour's mouth.**

**"Oh, dear," Chiron murmured. "That does explain a lot."**

**"Then why don't you explain a lot to me?" Jason said. "Please."**

"Yes" Annabeth said. "Please."

**Before Chiron could say anything, footsteps reverberated on the porch outside. The front door blew open, and Annabeth and another girl, a redhead, burst in, dragging Piper between them. Piper's head was lolled like she was unconscious.**

Piper promptly fell over.

**"What happened?" Jason rushed over. "What's wrong with her?"**

**"Hera's cabin," Annabeth gasped, like they'd run all the way. "Vision. Bad."**

**The redheaded girl looked up, and Jason saw that she'd been crying.**

**"I think.." the redheaded girl gulped. "I think I may have killed her."**

"DUH DUH DUHHHH!" The Stolls shouted. Katie hit them and they whimpered.

Jason reached down and placed Piper on the couch him and Leo were sitting on. Suddenly a flash filled the room.


	11. Clovis goes singing with Michael Jackson

Disclaimer : Me no own.

The light faded (once again) and standing there were three people. Two were girls, and one was a boy. The boy was tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a sparkle in them. One of the girls had long caramel hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and Percy and the gods stared at her in surprise. The third was a girl with golden armor and a dark purple cloak. She had long black hair in a tight braid and dark eyes. Leo spoke first. "Calypso!" He shouted and ran to the girl in the t-shirt.

Percy smiled. "You kept your promise!" He shouted to Zeus.

Zeus frowned. "Yes… Apparently I did."

Calypso spoke up. "Yes. You did."

Annabeth looked at the other two and asked, "Who are you?"

The blonde smiled. "I'm Will Solace, son of Apollo." Will smiled at himself.

The girl with the golden armor frowned. "I'm Reyna, daughter of-"

Leo interrupted her, screaming "SPOILERS!"

F-Will took the book from Nico and started to read it. As he started, the three new futures joined the other on the couches, F-Will next to F-Nico (Aphrodite noticed) and F-Reyna on F-Nico's other side, and Calypso next to Leo (Aphrodite noticed that too).

**Jason and the redhead, who introduced herself as Rachel, put Piper on the couch while Annabeth rushed down the hall to get a med kit. Piper was still breathing, but she wouldn't wake up. She seemed to be in some kind of coma.**

**"We've got to heal her," Jason insisted. **

"No duh." Aphrodite hissed at him. He held up his hands in surrender, and Piper smiled at her mother's protectiveness. The pasts, however, were still confused about why she cared, exactly.

**"There's a way, right?" Seeing her so pale, barely breathing, Jason felt a surge of protectiveness. Maybe he didn't really know her. Maybe she wasn't his girlfriend. But they'd survived the Grand Canyon together. They'd come all this way. He'd left her side for a little while, and **_**this **_**happened. **

Piper smiled, but said to him, "I don't need you to protect me, Sparky."

He smiled at her. "Wouldn't have you any other way."

**Chiron put his hand on her forehead and grimaced. "Her mind is in a fragile state. Rachel, what happened?"**

"Oh nothing." Leo said. "Only a massive vision and Rachel turning cray-cray."

**"I wish I knew," she said. "As soon as I got to camp, I had a premonition about Hera's cabin. I went inside. Annabeth and Piper came in while I was there. We talked, and then - I just blanked out. Annabeth said I spoke in a different voice."**

**"A prophecy?" Chiron asked.**

**"No. The spirit of Delphi comes from within. I know how that feels. This was like long distance, a power trying to speak through me."**

**Annabeth ran in with a leather pouch. She knelt next to Piper. "Chiron, what happened back there - I've never seen anything like it. I've heard Rachel's prophecy voice. This was different. She sounded like an older woman."**

"Hera…" Zeus turned to his wife. "Is there a specific reason any of this is happening?"  
>She smiled nervously at the king of the gods. "Maybe…?"<p>

**"She grabbed Piper's shoulders and told her -"**

"To free her from a prison?" Jason guessed.

**"To free her from a prison?" Jason guessed.**

Leo laughed at his red-faced friend.

**Annabeth stared at him. "How did you know that?"**

**Chiron made a three-fingered gesture over his heart, like a ward against evil.**

"How did you know that?" Annabeth asked Jason.

He just shrugged, and Hermes sighed. "Stop asking them questions. They're not going to tell us _anything_."

**"Jason, tell them. Annabeth, the medicine bag, please."**

**Chiron trickled drops from a medicine vial into Piper's mouth while Jason explained what had happened when the room froze - the dark misty woman who had claimed to be Jason's patron.**

**When he was done, no one spoke, which made him more anxious. "So does this happen often?" he asked. "Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding you bust them out of jail?"**

"Not normally." Nico said to them.  
>"Emphasis on <em>normally.<em>" Percy finished.

**"Your patron," Annabeth said. "Not your godly parent?"**

**"No, she said patron. She also said my dad had given her my life."**

**Annabeth frowned. "I've never of heard anything like that before. You said the storm spirit on the skywalk - he claimed to be working for some mistress who was giving him orders, right? Could it be this woman you saw, messing with your mind?"**

"Are you calling me evil!?" Hera exclaimed to Annabeth.

Annabeth was about to retaliate, when Percy clapped a hand to her mouth. "No she wasn't, your majesty."

When he removed his hand, Annabeth looked about complain, he shot F-Will a pointed look. He sighed and continued reading.

**"I don't think so," Jason said. "If she were my enemy, why would she be asking for my help? She's imprisoned. She's worried about some enemy getting more powerful. Something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice -"**

**Annabeth turned to Chiron. "Not Kronos. Please tell me it's not that."**

**The centaur looked miserable. He held Piper's wrist, checking her pulse.**

**At last he said, "It is not Kronos. That threat is ended. But..."**

"But what?" Annabeth asked.

**"But what?" Annabeth asked.**

Annabeth smiled.

**Chiron closed the medicine bag. "Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later."**

**"Or now," Jason said. "Sir, Mr. Chiron, you told me the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can't possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans, right?"**

"Oh gods…" Percy said. "We barely won that war…"

"We barely won this one too." F-Nico finished. "And we went through hell to do it." Only the futures realized he wasn't talking metaphorically.

**"Oh," Rachel said in a small voice. "Oh, dear. The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at the same moment?"**

**"Hera?" Annabeth's snarl was even fiercer than Seymour's. "She took you over? She did this to Piper?"**

**"I think Rachel's right," Jason said. "The woman did seem like a goddess. And she wore this - this goatskin cloak. That's a symbol of Juno, isn't it?"**

Everyone glared daggers at Hera.

**Chiron nodded reluctantly. "Of Juno, Hera's Roman aspect, the most warlike state. The goatskin cloak was a symbol of the Roman soldier."**

**"So Hera is imprisoned?" Rachel asked. "Who could do that to the queen of gods?"**

**Annabeth crossed her arms. "Well, whoever they are, maybe we should thank them. If they can shut up Hera -"**

"I should turn you into a cow-peacock hybrid." Hera said to Annabeth. Percy glared at Hera.

**"Annabeth," Chiron warned, "she is still one of the Olympians. In many ways, she is the glue that holds the gods' family together. If she truly has been imprisoned and is in danger of destruction, this could shake the foundations of the world. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great even in the best of times. **

"You betcha." Hera said, crossing her arms and legs. Everyone contained laughter.

**And if Hera has asked Jason for help -"**

**"Fine," Annabeth grumbled. "Well, we know Titans can capture a god, right? Atlas captured Artemis a few years ago. And in the old stories, the gods captured each other in traps all the time. But something worse than a Titan...?"**

Annabeth thought for a second, reviewing the myths, and remembered the giants. Her eyes widened. "Oh!"

Percy looked at her. "Are you okay."

She smiled at him "I'm okay."

**Jason looked at the leopard's head. Seymour was smacking his lips like the goddess had tasted much better than a Snausage."Hera said she'd been trying to break through her prison bonds for a month."**

**"Which is how long Olympus has been closed," Annabeth said. "So the gods must know something bad is going on."**

Leo frowned at the 'thing' in his hands. "That's because Zeus is stupid. If he had explained what was going on, we would have been much better off."

Calypso, who had sat down on the couch between him and F-Will, placed a hand on his arm. She realized he was also mad about his habit of not keeping promises, and felt her heart warm, also realizing how wrong she was to think he was unimportant and nothing but annoying when he had first landed on her long-abandoned island.

**"But why use her energy to send me here?" Jason asked. "She wiped my memory, plopped me into the Wilderness School field trip, and sent you a dream vision to come pick me up. Why am I so important? Why not just send an emergency flare to the other gods - let them know where she is so they bust her out?"**

"Unfortunately, we need demigods to do these kinds of things for us." Hera grumbled.

**"The gods need heroes to do their will down here on earth," Rachel said. "That's right, isn't it? Their fates are always intertwined with demigods."**

**"That's true," Annabeth said, "but Jason's got a point. Why him? Why take his memory?"**

**"And Piper's involved somehow," Rachel said. "Hera sent her the same message - Free me. And, Annabeth, this must have something to do with Percy's disappearing."**

Annabeth bit her lip at the mention of Percy disappearing. He noticed, put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him. Aphrodite was promptly bombarded with lots of mental fangirling from the Aphrodite cabin _and _the couple in question.

**Annabeth fixed her eyes on Chiron. "Why are you so quiet, Chiron? What is it we're facing."**

**The old centaur's face looked like it had aged ten years in a matter of minutes. The lines around his eyes were deeply etched. "My dear, in this, I cannot help you. I am so sorry."**

Annabeth looked down, and Percy pulled her closer.

**Annabeth blinked. "You've never... you've never kept information from me. Even the last great prophecy -**

**"I will be in my office." His voice was heavy. "I need some time to think before dinner. Rachel, will you watch the girl? Call Argus to bring her to the infirmary, if you'd like. And Annabeth, you should speak with Jason. Tell him about - about the Greek and Roman gods."**

"Why would he mention romans?" Chris asked.

The futures shrugged. "I don't know." F-Reyna said.

Leo spoke to everyone, "Raise your hand if you think Reyna is the best at lying." Everyone raised their hands.

**"But..."**

**The centaur turned his wheelchair and rolled off down the hallway. Annabeth's eyes turned stormy. She muttered something in Greek, and Jason got the feeling it wasn't complimentary toward centaurs.**

Annabeth blushed and Percy smiled. F-Percy and Annabeth smiled at their past selves, feeling a lot like proud parents.

**"I'm sorry," Jason said. "I think my being here - I don't know. I've messed things up coming to the camp, somehow. Chiron said he'd sworn an oath and couldn't talk about it."**

**"What oath?" Annabeth demanded. "I've never seen him act this way. And why would he tell me to talk to you about the gods..."**

**Her voice trailed off. Apparently she'd just noticed Jason's sword sitting on the coffee table. She touched the blade gingerly, like it might be hot.**

**"Is it gold?" she said. "Do you remember where you got it?"**

"He has amnesia, Annabeth." The Stolls chorused. Annabeth glared at them.

**"No," Jason said. "Like I said, I don't remember anything."**

**Annabeth nodded, like she'd just come up with a rather desperate plan. "If Chiron won't help, we'll need to figure things out ourselves. Which means... Cabin Fifteen. Rachel, you'll keep an eye on Piper."**

Percy's eyes furrelled. "What's cabin fifteen?" He asked.

Jason smiled. "Look at Clovis." Everyone looked at the sleeping figure.

"Okay…"

**"Sure," Rachel promised. "Good luck, you two."**

**"Hold on," Jason said. "What's in Cabin Fifteen?"**

**Annabeth stood. "Maybe a way to get your memory back."**

Piper woke up, yawning, and sat up. "What?" She said.

Jason laughed. "You missed nothing. Now get up."

**They headed toward a newer wing of cabins in the southwest corner of the green. Some were fancy, with glowing walls or blazing torches, but Cabin Fifteen was not so dramatic.**

**It looked like an old-fashioned prairie house with mud walls and a rush roof. On the door hung a wreath of crimson flowers - red poppies, Jason thought, though he wasn't sure how he knew.**

"Hypnos," Will said. "God of sleep."

**"You think this is my parent's cabin?" he asked.**

"Yeah…" Calypso said. "No."

**"No," Annabeth said. "This is the cabin for Hypnos, the god of sleep."**

**"Then why -"**

**"You've forgotten everything," she said. "If there's any god who can help us figure out memory loss, it's Hypnos."**

**Inside, even though it was almost dinnertime, three kids were sound asleep under piled of covers. A warm fire crackled in the hearth. Above the mantel hung a tree branch, each twig dripping white liquid into a collection of tin bowls.**

"What is it?" Percy asked.

Annabeth answered, "It's water from the river Lethe. Erases memories. Symbol of Hypnos."

"Like Bob." He said.

F-Percy and Annabeth flinched, F-Nico looked pained, and Thalia and Nico smiled. Annabeth, however, looked confused. "Who?"

F-Nico waved at F-Will to continue reading.

**Jason was tempted to catch a drop on his finger just to see what it was, but he held himself back. **

"Good for you." Leo murmured.

**Soft violin music played from somewhere. The air smelled lie fresh laundry. The cabin was so cozy and peaceful that Jason's eyelids started to feel heavy. A nap sounded like a great idea.**

**He was exhausted. There were plenty of empty beds, all with feather pillows and fresh sheets and fluffy quilts and - Annabeth nudged him. "Snap out of it."Jason blinked. He realized his knees had been started to buckle.**

**"Cabin Fifteen does that to everyone," Annabeth warned. "If you ask me, this place is even more dangerous than the Ares cabin. **

"Why!?" Clarisse and Ares exclaimed. "Why is a stupid sleep cabin worse than mine?"

**At least with Ares, you can learn where the landmines are."**

"Oh..."

**"Land mines?"**

"Now we have to move those…" Clarisse murmured to her cabin.

**She walked up to the nearest snoring kid and shook his shoulder. "Clovis! Wake up!"**

"That makes a lot of sense…" Almost everybody said.

**The kid looked like a baby cow. He had a blond tuft of hair on a wedge-shaped head, with thick features and a thick neck. His body was stocky, but he had spindly little arms like he'd never lifted anything heavier than a pillow.**

"Probably hasn't." Jake said.

**"Clovis!" Annabeth shook harder, then finally knocked on his forehead about six times.**

**"Wh-wh-what?" Clovis complained, sitting up and squinting. He yawned hugely, and both Annabeth and Jason yawned too.**

Everyone else yawned too.

**"Stop that!" Annabeth said. "We need your help."**

**"I was sleeping."**

"You're _always _sleeping." Annabeth said.

**"You're **_**always **_**sleeping."**

Everyone laughed.

**"Good night." Before he could pass out, Annabeth yanked his pillow off the bed.**

**"That's not fair," Clovis complained meekly. "Give it back."**

**"First help," Annabeth said. "Then sleep."**

**Clovis sighed. His breath smelled like warm milk. "Fine. What?"**

**Annabeth explained about Jason's problem. Every once in a while she'd snap her fingers under Clovis's nose to keep him awake.**

**Clovis must have been really excited, because when Annabeth was done, he didn't pass out. He actually stood and stretched, **

"Must've been pretty exciting." Nyssa said. "He only does that for us when we tell him it;s time for dinner."

**then blinked at Jason. "So you don't remember anything, huh?"**

**"Just impressions," Jason said. "Feelings, like..."**

**"Yes?" Clovis said.**

**"Like I know I shouldn't be here. At this camp. I'm in danger."**

"Why?" Annabeth asked again.

Calypso shrugged. "The same reason we're all here, probably."

"Why are you here?" Percy asked. "I don't mean to be rude, but if the only people here are important, are you important?"

She smiled a devious smiled and answered "My actions aren't important, but a play a large role in the fourth and fifth books."

"Okay…" Percy said, but he still seemed hesitant. Calypso winked at Leo, who grinned at her.

**"Hmm. Close your eyes."**

**Jason glanced at Annabeth, but she nodded reassuringly.**

**Jason was afraid he'd end up snoring in one of the bunks forever, but he closed his eyes. His thoughts became murky, as if he were sinking into a dark lake.**

**The next thing he knew, his eyes snapped open. He was sitting in a chair by the fire. Clovis and Annabeth knelt next to him .**

**" - serious, all right," Clovis was saying.**

**"What happened?" Jason said. "How long -"**

**"Just a few minutes," Annabeth said. "But it was tense. You almost dissolved."**

"Literally?" Percy asked.

**Jason hoped she didn't mean **_**literally**_**, but her expression was solemn.**

**"Usually," Clovis said, "memories are lost for a good reason. They sink under the surface like dreams, and with a good sleep, I can bring them back. But this..."**

**"Lethe?" Annabeth asked.**

**"No," Clovis said. "Not even Lethe."**

**"Lethe?" Jason asked.**

**Clovis pointed to the tree branch dripping milky drops above the fireplace. "The River Lethe in the Underworld. It dissolves your memories, wipes your mind clean permanently. That's the branch of a poplar tree from the Underworld, deeper into the Lethe. It's the symbol of my father, Hypnos. Lethe is not a place you want to go swimming."**

**Annabeth nodded. "Percy went there once. He told me it was powerful enough to wipe the mind of a Titan."**

**Jason was suddenly glad he hadn't touched the branch. **

"You should be." Reyna said.

**"But... that's not my problem?"**

**"No," Clovis agreed. "Your mind wasn't wiped, and your memories weren't buried. They've been stolen." The fire crackled. Drops of Lethe water plunked into the tin cups on the mantel. One of the other Hypnos campers muttered in his sleep - something about a duck. **

**"Stolen," Jason said. "How?"**

**"A god," Clovis said. "Only a god would have that kind of power."**

**"We know that." said Jason. "It was Juno. But how did she do it and why?"**

"Yes." Zeus said. "Why did she do it?" He shot a pointed look at his wife. She slouched down in her seat.

**Clovis scratched his neck. "Juno?"**

**"He means Hera," Annabeth said. "For some reason, Jason likes the Roman names."**

"Yeah…" Frank said. "For some reason."

Will stared at him. "You mean it is important!?"

Frank smiled. "Maybe."

**"Hmm," Clovis said.**

**"What?" Jason asked. "Does that mean something?"**

**"Hmm," Clovis said again, and this time Jason realized he was snoring.**

"'Course he was." Travis said with a smile. "That's Clovis for you."

**"Clovis!" he yelled.**

**"What? What?" His eyes fluttered open. "We were talking about pillows, right? No, gods. I remember. Greek and Roman. Sure, could be important."**

**"But they're the same gods," Annabeth said. "Just different names."**

"Not exactly," Reyna said.

**"Not exactly," Clovis said.**

"Reyna!" Leo said. "You're starting to think like a narcoleptic boy! Good for you!"

She proceeded to hit him.

**Jason sat forward, now very much awake. "What do you mean, not exactly?"**

**"Well.." Clovis yawned. "Some gods are only Roman. Like Janus, or Pompona. But even the major Greek gods - it's not just their names that changed when they moved to Rome. Their appearances changed. Their attributes changed. They even had slightly different personalities."**

The gods bit their lips, the futures hid knowing smiles, and the campers just looked bored, like this was just another unimportant conversation.

**"But..." Annabeth faltered. "Okay, so maybe people saw them differently through the centuries. That doesn't change who they are."**

**"Sure it does." Clovis began to nod off, and Jason snapped his fingers under his nose.**

**"Coming, Mother!" he yelped. "I mean... Yeah, I'm awake. So, um, personalities. The gods change to reflect their host cultures. You know that, Annabeth. I mean, these days, Zeus likes tailored suits, reality television, and that Chinese food place on East Twenty-eight Street, right? **

"Seriously?" Jason asked. "I have a weird family."

Leo laughed. "We all do, bro-choucho!"

**It was the same in Roman times, and the gods were Roman almost as long as they were Greek. It was a big empire, lasted for centuries. So of course their Roman aspects are still a big part of their character."**

**"Makes sense," Jason said.**

**Annabeth shook her head, mystified. "But how do you know all this, Clovis?"**

**"Oh, I spend a lot of time dreaming. I see the gods there all the time - always shifting forms. Dreams are fluid, you know. You can be in different places at once, always changing identities. It's a lot like being a god, actually. **

"That sounds really cool!" The Stoll brothers shouted at the top of their lungs, promptly waking up Clovis.

"What - Who - Where?" He said drowsily.

The Stolls jumped on this chance. "Make us fall asleep."

"Okay..." He said as he fell asleep again.

"Guys," Annabeth said. "He probably doesn't know how to-" The Stolls fell over, snoring. She stared at them for a second. "Okay then."

**Like recently, I dreamed I was watching a Michael Jackson concert, and then I was onstage **_**with **_**Michael Jackson, and we were singing this duet, and I could **_**not **_**remember the words for 'The Girl Is Mine.'**

"Um…" P-Leo said. "Is that normal?"

F-Percy nodded. "Yep."

**Oh, man, it was so embarrassing, I -"**

**"Clovis," Annabeth interrupted. "Back to Rome?"**

**"Right, Rome," Clovis said. "So we call the gods by their Greek names because that's their original form. But saying their Roman aspects are exactly the same - that's not true. In Rome, they became more warlike. They didn't mingle with mortals as much. They were harsher, more powerful - the gods of an empire."**

**"Like the dark side of the gods?" Annabeth asked.**

**"Not exactly," Clovis said. "They stood for discipline, honor, strength -"**

**"Good things, then," Jason said. For some reason, he felt the need to speak up for the Roman gods, thought wasn't sure why it mattered to him. **

Jason smiled.

**"I mean, discipline is important, right? That's what made Rome last so long."**

**Clovis gave him a curious look. "That's true. But the Roman gods weren't very friendly. For instance, my dad, Hypnos... he didn't do much except sleep in Greek times. In Roman times, they called him Somnus. He liked killing people who didn't stay alert at their jobs. If they nodded off at the wrong time, **_**boom **_**- they never woke up. He killed the helmsman of Aeneas when they were sailing from Troy."**

"Sounds like a great person to be friends with." Leo said.

Frank shrugged. "Not all romans are bad."

"You mean _were _bad?" Nico questioned.

Frank looked at him. "Umm… yeah. I just misspoke."

Nico nodded, but still looked a little suspicious **(AN# I always thought Nico found Hazel after the Titan War [If this is wrong and it says when he found her in the books, please say so.])**

**"Nice guy," Annabeth said. "But I still don't understand what it has to do with Jason."**

**"Neither do I," Clovis said. "But if Hera took your memories, only she can give it back. And if I had to meet the queen of the gods, I'd hope she was more in a Hera mood than a Juno mood. Can I go back to sleep now?"**

**Annabeth started at the branch above the fire, dripping Lethe water into the cups. She looked so worried, Jason wondered is she was considering a drink to forget her troubles.**

**Then she stood and tossed Clovis a pillow. "Thanks, Clovis. We'll see you at dinner."**

**"Can I get room service?" Clovers yawned and stumbled to his bunk. "I feel like...zzz..." he collapsed with his butt in the air and his face buried in a pillow.**

"Will he suffocate?" Percy asked.

"He'll be fine." F-Annabeth assured him.

**"Won't he suffocate?" Jason asked.**

**"He'll be fine," Annabeth said. "But I'm beginning to think that you are in serious trouble."**

F-Will closed the book and handed it to Leo. He took it and opened it

_**Piper dreamed about her last day with her dad.**_


	12. AUTHOR'S NOTE PLEASE READ!

**AN : **

**I have a really good idea that I really want to write, but it would interfere with my current story.**

**I want to write it** (It is a PJO/HOH fic)** but I wondered if any of you would get upset.**

**Please review your opinion!**

**It's another breaking the fourth wall **(What does that even mean?) **fic where the seven **(plus a few others) **find a machine that allows them to go to alternate realities, such as; Superheroes, All-Mortal, Gender-bent, Personality/Power/Parent/Back-story switch, and whatever I **(and you guys) **come up with! **(If you review yes, tell me what dimension they should visit first)

**Thanks so much!**

**DOA999**


	13. Dreaming of a White Christmas (or not)!

**I am so sorry this is late!**

**I am trying to make them once a week, but it mightend up being every week and a half.**

**I am so sorry!**

**(I don't even have a good excuse)**

_Sorry!_

**Disclaimer: Dis stuffs not mine. Ploot stuffs is mine. Characteries and boldiness is Uncly Rick's.**

**Piper dreamed about her last day with her dad.**

As Leo read, Aphrodite frowned and looked down.

**They were on the beach near Big Sur, taking a break from surfing. The morning had been so perfect, Piper knew something had to go wrong soon - a rabid horde of paparazzi, **

"Paparazzi?" Lacy asked. "Are you famous?"

Piper pursed her lips. "Sort of." The whole cabin gasped.

**or maybe a great white shark attack. **

Everyone looked at Poseidon. He raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry!"

**No way her luck could hold. **

**But so far, they'd had excellent waves, an overcast sky, and a mile of oceanfront completely to themselves. Dad had found this out-of-the-way spot, rented a beachfront villa **_**and **_**the properties on either side, and somehow managed to keep it a secret. If he stayed there too long, Piper knew the photographers would find him. They always did.**

"Millionaire-" Lacy started.

"famous-" Drew continued, shocked.

"and your dad!?" The Aphrodite cabin shouted in unison.

Piper looked shocked. "Yes, he is..?" She said slowly.

**"Nice job out there, Pipes." He gave her the smile he was famous for: perfect teeth, dimpled chin, a twinkle in his dark eyes that always made grown women scream and ask him to sign their bodies in permanent marker. (Seriously, Piper thought, get a life.) **

"Exactly." All of the Hunters said.

**His close-cropped black hair gleamed with salt water. "You're getting better at hanging ten."**

**Piper flushed with pride, though she suspected Dad was just being nice. She still spent most of her time wiping out. It took special talent to run over yourself with a surfboard. **

"Yeah.." Piper said.

**Her **_**dad **_**was the natural surfer - which made no sense since he'd been raised a poor kid in Oklahoma, hundreds of miles from the ocean - but he was amazing on the curls. Piper would've given up surfing long time ago except it let her spend time with him. There weren't many ways she could do that.**

**"Sandwich?" Dad dug into the picnic basket his chef, Arno, had made. "Let's see: turkey pesto, crab cake wasabi - ah, a Piper special. Peanut butter and jelly."**

**She took the sandwich, though her stomach was too upset to eat. She always asked for PB&J. Piper was vegetarian, for one thing. She had been ever since they'd driven past that slaughterhouse in Chino and the smell had made her insides want to come outside.**

Aphrodite gagged.

**But it was more than that. PB&J was simple food, like a regular kid would have for lunch. Sometimes she pretended her dad had actually made it for her, not a personal chef from France who liked to wrap the sandwich in gold leaf paper with a light-up sparkler instead of a toothpick.**

Everyone's jaw dropped. "Personal chef-"

"From France!?"

"Gold leaf paper-"

"And a light-up sparkler!?" Everyone said.

Piper blushed, "Yeah…"

**Couldn't anything be simple? That's why she turned down the fancy clothes. Dad always offered, the designer shoes, the trips to the salon. **

"_What_ a waste." Drew said meanly.

Aphrodite and Jason frowned at her.

**She cut her own hair with a pair of plastic Garfield safety scissors, deliberately making it uneven. She preferred to wear beat-up running shoes, jeans, a T-shirt, and her old Polartec jacket from the time they went snowboarding. And she hated the snobby private schools Dad thought were good for her. She kept getting herself kicked out. He kept finding more schools.**

Leo and Annabeth sympathized with Piper.

**Yesterday, she'd pulled her biggest heist yet - driving that "borrowed" BMW out of the dealership.**

Hermes sighed. "She still won't admit she's a master thief." The Hermes cabin nodded sadly.

**She **_**had **_**to pull a bigger stunt each time, because it took more and more to get Dad's attention.**

**Now she regretted it. Dad didn't know yet.**

Piper clenched her jaw.

**She'd mean to tell him that morning. Then he'd surprised her with this trip, and she couldn't ruin it. It was the first time they'd had a day together in what - three months?**

Aphrodite looked down.

**"What's wrong?" He passed her a soda.**

**"Dad, there's something -"**

**"Hold on, Pipes. That's a serious face. Ready for Any Three Questions?"**

Piper smiled, but Drew scoffed. "She still played that at sixteen?" She laughed. "Wimp."

Jason's eyes sparked, but Piper laid a hand on his shoulder and he calmed down. She spoke "I did not ask your opinion, now did I, Drew?" Drew's mouth opened and closed like a fish, and Piper smiled.

**They'd been playing that game for years - her dad's way of staying connected in the shortest possible amount of time. They could ask each other any three questions. Nothing off limits, and you had to answer honestly. The rest of the time, Dad promised to stay out of her business - which was easy, since he was never around.**

Piper smiled again.

**Piper knew most kids would find a Q&A like this with their parent totally mortifying. But she looked forward to it. It was like surfing - not easy, but a way to feel like she actually had a father.**

Aphrodite smiled sadly.

**"First question," she said. "Mom." No surprise. That was always one of her topics.**

Most of the demigods thought to themselves, _It always is that way with demigods._

The gods, hearing them, looked away, sheepishly.

**Her dad shrugged with resignation. "What do you want to know, Piper? I've already told you - she disappeared. I don't know why, or where she went. After you were born, she simply left. I never heard from her again."**

Aphrodite's lip quivered.

**"Do you think she's alive?" It wasn't a real question. Dad was allowed to day he didn't know. But she wanted to hear how he'd answer.**

Aphrodite looked like she was about to cry.

**He stared at the waves.**

**"Your Grandpa Tom," he said at last, "he used to tell me that if you walked far enough toward the sunset, you'd come to Ghost Country, where you could talk to the dead. He said a long time ago, you could bring the dead back; but then mankind messed up. Well, it's a long story."**

**"Like the Land of the Dead for the Greeks," Piper remembered. "It was in the west, too. And Orpheus - he tried to bring his wife back."**

"How does she know so much about the Greeks?" Connor asked.

Piper coughed into her hand. "I'm right here you know." He blushed.

**Dad nodded. A year before, he'd had his biggest role as an Ancient Greek king.**

"Role?" Lacy asked. Piper half-smiled.

**Piper had helped him research the myths - all those old stories about people getting turned to stone and boiled in lakes of lava. They'd had a fun time reading together, and it made Piper's life seem not so bad. For a while she'd felt closer to her dad, but like everything, it didn't last.**

Piper smiled. "He's better now."

**"Lot of similarities between Greek and Cherokee," Dad agreed. "Wonder what your grandpa would think if he saw us now, sitting at the end of the western land. He'd probably think we're ghosts."**

**"So you're saying you believe those stories? You think Mom is dead?"**

Aphrodite sniffled, and everyone turned to look at her. _She normally loves tragic love stories,_ they all thought. _So why is she crying now?_

**His eyes watered, and Piper saw the sadness behind them. She figured that's why women were so attracted to him. On the surface, he seemed confident and rugged, but his eyes held so much sadness. Women wanted to find out why. They wanted to comfort him, and they never could. Dad told Piper it was a Cherokee thing - they all had that darkness inside them from generations of pain and suffering. But Piper thought it was more than that.**

Lacy smiled sadly. She looked at Piper and she smiled back. _She would be a nice friend,_ Lacy thought, e_ven if she isn't a big fashion fan._

**"I don't believe in Ghost Country, or animal spirits, or Greek gods… **

"What am I?" Apollo said jokingly. "Chopped liver?"

**I don't think I could sleep at night. I'd always be looking for someone to blame." Somebody to blame for Grandpa Tom dying of lung cancer, Piper thought, before Dad got famous and had the money to help. For Mom - the only woman he'd ever loved - abandoning him without even a good-bye note, leaving him with a newborn girl he wasn't ready to care for. For his being so successful, and yet still not happy.**

Aphrodite curled up her knees and covered her face.

**"I don't know if she's alive," he said. "But I do think she might as well be in Ghost Country, Piper. There's no getting her back. If I believed otherwise... I don't think I could stand that, either."**

**Behind them, a car door opened. Piper turned, and her heart sank. Jane was marching toward them in her business suit, wobbling over the sand in her high heels, her PDA in hand. The look on her face was partly annoyed, partly triumphant, and Piper prayed**_**. If there's any animal spirit or Greek god that can help, make Jane take a header. I'm not asked for permanent damage, just knock her out for the rest of the day, please?**_

Almost everyone stared at Zeus hopefully. He shrugged in response.

**But Jane kept advancing.**

**"Dad," Piper said quickly. "Something happened yesterday..."**

Piper bit her lip again and leaned more into Jason.

**But he'd seen Jane, too. He was already reconstructing his business face. Jane wouldn't be here if it wasn't serious. A studio head called - project fell through - or Piper had messed up again.**

Leo frowned, reading the story, hoping his bestie didn't get into too much trouble.

**"We'll get back to that, Pipes," he promised. "I'd better see what Jane wants. You know how she is."**

**Yes - Piper knew. Dad trudged across the sand to meet her. Piper couldn't hear them talking, but she didn't need to. She was good at reading faces. Jane gave him the facts about the stolen car, occasionally pointing at Piper like she was a disgusting pet that had whizzed on the carpet.**

"Can I kill her?" Aphrodite asked. Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"Yes." Piper said to her mother.

Aphrodite smiled. "Good."

**Dad's energy and enthusiasm drained away. He gestured for Jane to wait. then he walked back to Piper. She couldn't stand that look in his eyes - like she'd betrayed his trust.**

**"You told me you would try, Piper," he said.**

"She did." Jason whispered.

**"Dad, I hate that school. I can't do it. I wanted to tell you about the BMW, but -"**

**"They've expelled you," he said. "A car, Piper? You're sixteen next year. I would buy you any car you want. **

"That's not what I wanted…"

**How could you -"**

**"You mean **_**Jane **_**would buy me a car?" Piper demanded. She couldn't help it. The anger just welled up and spilled out of her. "Dad, just listen for once. Don't make me wait for you to ask your stupid three questions. I want to go to regular school. I want **_**you **_**to take me to parents' night, not Jane. **

"Seriously?" Leo interrupted himself. "Jane?"

**Or home school me! I learned so much when we read about Greece together. We could do that all the time! We could -"**

**"Don't make this about me," her dad said. **

"It already is."

**"I do the best I can, Piper. We've had this conversation."**

_**No**_**, she thought. **_**You've put off this conversation. For years.**_

Piper sighed.

**Her dad sighed. "Jane's talked to the police, brokered a deal. the dealership won't press charges, but you have to agree to go to a boarding school in Nevada. They specialize in problems... in kids with tough issues."**

Percy winced. "That's harsh."

**"That's what I am." Her voice trembled. "A problem."**

"Oh Piper..." Aphrodite's voice shook.

**"Piper... you said you'd try. You let me down. I don't know what else to do."**

**"Do anything," she said. "But do it yourself! Don't let Jane handle it for you. You can't just send me away."**

**Dad looked down at the picnic basket. His sandwich sat uneaten on a piece of gold leaf paper. They'd planned for a whole afternoon in the surf. Now that was ruined.**

Piper sighed.

**Piper couldn't believe he'd really give in to Jane's wishes. Not his time. Not on something as huge as boarding school.**

**"Go see her," Dad said. "She's got the details."**

**"Dad..."**

**He looked away, gazing at the ocean like he could see all the way to Ghost Country. Piper promised herself she wouldn't cry. She headed up the beach toward Jane, who smiled coldly and held up a plane ticket. As usual, she'd already arranged everything. Piper was just another problem of the day that Jane could check off her list.**

The love goddess's eyes narrowed evilly.

**Piper's dream changed.**

**She stood on a mountaintop at night, city lights glimmering below. In front of her, a bonfire blazed. Purplish flames seemed to cast more shadows than light, but the heat was so intense her clothes steamed.**

Everyone was startled by the abrupt change in the mood of the story.

**"This is your second warning," a voice rumbled, so powerful it shook the earth.**

The Lost Hero Trio shivered.

**Piper had heard that voice before in her dreams. She'd tried to convince herself it wasn't as scary as she remembered, but it was worse.**

Piper leaned more into Jason, and they both shivered again.

**Behind the bonfire, a huge face loomed out of the darkness. It seemed to float above the flames, but Piper knew it must be connected to an enormous body. The crude features might've been chiseled out of rock. The face hardly seemed alive except for its piercing white eyes, like raw diamonds, and its horrible frame of dreadlocks, braided with human bones. **

All the gods froze, scared to Tartarus of what is soon to happen.

**It smiled, and Piper shivered.**

**"You'll do what you're told," the giant said. "You'll go on the quest. Do our bidding, and you may walk away alive. Otherwise -"**

**He gestured to one side of the fire. Piper's father was hanging unconscious, tied to a stake. **

Everyone gasped, and Aphrodite and Piper choked on sobs.

**She tried to cry out. She wanted to call to her dad, and demand the giant to let him go, but her voice wouldn't work.**

**"I'll be watching," the giant said. "Serve me, and you both live. You have the word of Enceladus. **

The gods turned white and stared at the futures in shock. Annabeth gaped. "Who's Enceladus?"

Percy stared in shock "Annabeth? Are you feeling alright?"

She frowned at him "Why wouldn't I?"

"You don't know something!"

She hit him "I know the name, I just can't remember who it is!"

Percy smirked. "You still don't know."

She opened her mouth, ready to scream at him, but Leo quickly continued reading.

**Fail me... well, I've slept for millennia, young demigods. I am **_**very **_**hungry. Fail, and I'll eat well." The giant roared with laughter. The earth trembled. A crevice opened at Piper's feet, and she tumbled into the darkness.**

Everyone looked at Hades. He, noticing their glares, threw his hands up. "WHy does everyone always relate crevices with me!?"

F-Percy shrugged. "Maybe it's because you _like _dark crevices."

He got glared at be Hades and both Nicos, but he just smiled.

**She woke feeling like she'd been trampled by an Irish stepdancing troupe.**

"Do those exist?" F-Will asked.

Leo nodded. "Yep."

"How do you-"

"I just do."

**Her chest hurt, and she could barely breathe. She reached down a closed her hand around the hilt of the dagger Annabeth had given her - Katoptris, Helen of Troy's weapon. So Camp Half-Blood hadn't been a dream.**

"Nope." F-Annabeth said. "Though some days I wake up thinking it was."

**"How are you feeling?" someone asked.**

**Piper tried to focus. She was lying in a bed with a white curtain on one side, like in a nurse's office. That redheaded girl, Rachel Dare, sat next to her. On the wall was a poster of a cartoon satyr who looked disturbingly like Coach Hedge with a thermometer sticking out of his mouth. the caption read: **_**Don't let sickness get your goat!**_

Will blinked. "We really need to get rid of that sign."

Almost every single person in the room said at the exact same time, "Yes, you really do."

**"Where -" Piper's voice died when she saw the guy at the door.**

**He looked like a typical California surfer dude - buff and tan, blond hair, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. but he had hundred of blue eyes all over his body - along his arms, down his legs, and all over his face. Even his feet had eyes, peering up at her from between the straps of his sandals.**

Hera smiled a small smile. "Argus."

**"That's Argus," Rachel said, "our head of security. He's just keeping an eye on things... so to speak."**

"No." Annabeth said. "Just no."

**Argus nodded. The eye on his chin winked.**

**"Where -" Piper tried again, but she felt like she was talking through a mouthful of cotton.**

**"You're in the Big House," Rachel said. "Camp offices. We brought you here when you collapsed."**

**"You grabbed me," Piper remembered. "Hera's voice -"**

**"I'm so sorry about that," Rachel said. "Believe me, it was **_**not **_**my idea to get possessed. **

"I thought it was." Annabeth said.

**Chiron healed you with some nectar -"**

**"Nectar?"**

"Drink of the gods." Piper said.

**"The drink of the gods. In small amounts, it heals demigods, if it doesn't - ah - burn you to ashes."**

"What about me?" P-Leo asked.

Leo looked at his younger self. "What?"

"Well," he started. "I, well, we, are immune to fire. Does nectar burn us?"

Everyone stared at him. Leo frowned. "I don't know, but you gave me a great idea."

Calypso raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if I like the sound of that or not."

"I could bake myself into a giant cake." **(not my idea! I saw it on pinterest and had to mention it.)**

The other Leo, the Percys, Jason and Calypso smiled evilly. "That is a great idea."

**"Oh. Fun."**

**Rachel sat forward. "do you remember your vision?"**

"Which one?" Jason asked.

**Piper had a moment of dread, thinking she mean the dream about the giant. Then she realized Rachel was talking about what happened in Hera's cabin.**

"Oh."

**"Something's wrong with the goddess," Piper said. "She told me to free her, like she's trapped. She mentioned the earth swallowing us, and a fiery one, and something about the solstice."**

**In the corner, Argus made a rumbling sound in his chest. His eyes all fluttered at once.**

"Poor Argus…" Hera whispered.

Apollo turned to Hephaestus, who was building something or other. "You do know your mom cares more about a weird multi-eyed guy than you, right?"

He raised an eyebrow at the sun god. "She kicked me off a mountain."

**"Hera created Argus," Rachel explained. "He's actually very sensitive when it comes to her safety. We're trying to keep him from crying, because last time that happened... well, it caused quite a flood."**

**Argus sniffled. He grabbed a fistful of Kleenex from the bedside table and started dabbing eyes all over his body.**

**"So..." Piper tried not to stare as Argus wiped the tears from his elbows. "What's happened to Hera?"**

"We don't know." Annabeth whispered.

**"We're not sure," Rachel said. "Annabeth and Jason were here for you, but the way. Jason didn't want to leave you, but Annabeth had an idea - something that might restore his memories."**

**"That's... that's great." Jason had been here for her? She wished she'd been conscious for that. But if he got his memories back, would that be a good thing? **

"Why wouldn't it?" Percy asked her. She stayed silent.

**She was still holding out hope that they really did know each other. She didn't want their relationship to be just a trick of the Mist. Get over yourself, she thought. If she was going to save her dad, it didn't matter whether Jason liked her or not. He would hate her eventually. Everyone here would.**

Aphrodite and Piper looked down.

**She looked down at the ceremonial dagger strapped to her side. Annabeth had said it was a sign of power and status, but not normally used in battle. All show and no substance. A fake, just like Piper. **

Jason sighed. "Piper…" He said. "You're _not _a fake."

**And its name was Katoptris, looking glass. She didn't dare unsheathe it again, because she couldn't bear to see her own reflection.**

**"Don't worry." Rachel squeezed her arm. "Jason seems like a good guy. He had a vision too, a lot like yours. Whatever's happening with Hera - I think you two are meant to work together." Rachel smiled like this was good news, but Piper's spirits plunged even further. She'd thought that this quest - whatever it was - would involve nameless people. Now Rachel was basically telling her: **_**Good news! Not only is your dad being held ransom by a cannibal giant, you also get to betray the guy you like! How awesome is that?**_

"Yeah…" Jake said. "That doesn't sound like much fun."

**"Hey," Rachel said. "No need to cry. You'll figure it out."**

**Piper wiped her eyes, trying to get control of herself. This wasn't like her. She was supposed to be tough - a hardened car thief, the scourge of L.A. private schools. Here she was, crying like a baby. "How can you know what I'm facing?"**

**Rachel shrugged. "I know it's a hard choice, and your options aren't great. Like I said, I get hunches sometimes. But you're going to be claimed at the campfire. I'm almost sure. When you know who your godly parent is, things might be clearer."**

"Clearer," Piper said. "Not necessarily better."

_**Clearer, **_**Piper thought. **_**Not necessarily better.**_

Most smiled at that.

**She sat up in bed. Her forehead ached like someone had driven a spike between her eyes.** _**There's no getting your mother back, **_**her dad had told her. But apparently, tonight, her mom might claim her. **

Aphrodite smiled. _I hope I do._

**For the first time, Piper wasn't sure she wanted that.**

Aphrodite's smiled died, and she looked sad.

**"I hope it's Athena." **

Athena shrugged sheepishly. "Not mine. Sorry."

**She looked up, afraid Rachel might make fun of her, but the oracle just smiled. **

**"Piper, I don't blame you. Truthfully? I think Annabeth is hoping that too. You guys are a lot alike."**

"Thanks." Both Annabeths and Piper said.

**The comparison made Piper feel even guiltier. "Another hunch? You don't know anything about me."**

**"You'd be surprised."**

"And she turns into an anonymous oracle." Annabeth said in a huff.

F-Annabeth laughed. "She's actually really nice, once you get to know her." She said. Annabeth looked kind of shocked.

**"You're just saying that because you're an oracle, aren't you? You're supposed to sound all mysterious."**

"You've cracked the code!" F-Percy suddenly shouted.

**Rachel laughed. "Don't be giving away my secrets, Piper. And don't worry. Things will work out - just maybe not the way you plan."**

**"That's not making me feel better."**

**Somewhere in the distance, a conch horn blew. Argus grumbled and opened the door. "Dinner?" Piper guessed.**

I'm hungry." Leo complained.

Zeus sighed. "You can eat after this Piper section."

Almost everyone smiled. "FOOD!"

**"You slept through it," Rachel said. "Time for the campfire. Let's go find out who you are."**

"So…" Leo said. "Is it time for lunch yet?"

Zeus sighed. "I said after this Piper section. Therefore, we actually have one more chapter to go."

Everyone frowned and looked sighed. F-Nico frowned. "I'll read next."


End file.
